Even Villains can be Heroes
by SuperKirbyLand234
Summary: A transgender fox girl named Abigail Zigdras starts working at Gar's bodega, where she soon becomes friends with the Lakewood Plaza heroes, but there is a dark presence inside her that she can't fully control. Plus, her family's dark past will soon try ti threaten the new life she has. Can her new friends help her or is she doomed forever? (Rated T swearing & themes of child abuse)
1. Chapter 1

~Even Villains can be Heroes~

(Disclaimer: I don't own OK K.O. Let's be Heroes, I only own my OCs; all credit goes to the original creators at Cartoon Network, please support the official release).

Chapter 1: A New Employee

The sun rose to the sky on a clear cloudless morning in the town of Lakewood, the was a cool breeze in the air and the sound of chirping birds could be heard; in a small cottage near a small river, a young girl awoke from her peaceful slumber because of the incessant ringing of an alarm clock that sat on the bedside table.

The girl stuck her hand out from underneath her blanket and smacked the alarm clock, shutting it off; she then pulled her blanket off her head revealing her to be a young anthropomorphic fox girl with orange and white fur, black fur on her hands and feet, dark red hair and light green eyes. She yawned and stretched her arms as she climbed out of bed and headed into the bathroom.

She brushed her teeth and took a shower, putting on a pink sleeveless shirt and blue jean shorts; she combed her hair before exiting the bathroom and heading over to the kitchen, the cottage was only one story high so every room was on the same floor. The girl placed two toaster pastries into her toaster as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a jug of orange juice.

"Huh, you actually got up when the alarm clock went off? That's a first", said a voice. The girl looked behind her to see another anthropomorphic fox had entered the kitchen; this one was a young man with grayish blue hair and dark orange fur wearing a mechanic's uniform and sitting in a wheelchair he moved with a joystick. The girl smirked, "I start my new job at Lakewood Plaza Turbo today, Desmond. I'm not gonna oversleep this time, in fact I'm practically an adult now so I'm more responsible", she said as she pulled the pastries out of the toaster and began eating them.

The young fox man, Desmond, smirked at her. "Did you remember to take your pills?", he asked. The girl suddenly froze before rushing over to the cabinet and pulling out a small bottle filled with little white pills; she popped open the bottle and took out one pill, throwing it into her mouth and washing it down with the orange juice.

"Yeah Abby, if I still need to remind you to take your medication, then you're not an adult as of yet. Plus, you're only fourteen...I suggest you slow your roll there", said Desmond with a playful smile. The girl, Abby, pouted before lightly punching him in the shoulder. She finished her breakfast before throwing on a hoodie, grabbing a small purse and headed for the door, "I'll call you when I get there and when I come home later, I'll tell you how my first day went", she said.

Just before she walked out the door, she turned to see Desmond making a heart shape with his hands. "I love you too, big brother", said Abby as she made the same shape with her hands and then left the house. As he sat by the counter brewing a cup of coffee, Desmond could see Abby get on her bike and ride into town through the kitchen window. "I hope he doesn't give any trouble this time, the last thing we need is another tragedy", he sighed.

Soon, Abby came upon Lakewood Plaza Turbo, pulling her bike towards a store called Gar's Bodega; she chained her bike to the bike rack outside and walked into the store where she spotted two people by the counter talking to each other, one was a teenage girl older than her with light brown skin and pink hair and the other was a tall alien with curly green hair and light blue skin.

Abby shyly walked over to them, waving slightly when they noticed her. "Oh hey you're the new girl, what's up? I'm Radicles, but you can call me Rad for short, and this Enid", said the alien. "How are you doing?", asked Enid. Abby looked away for a second with a nervous blush on her face, she was quite confident about working at Gar's bodega weeks prior but now that she was actually very nervous and unsure about working there.

She was hoping that her coworkers would become her friends as well but since she was timid, she feared they might dislike her. Just then, two more people walked into room: one was a little boy with dark brown hair held by a red headband, light brown skin and was wearing red wristbands, a blue vest, a white shirt, blue shorts and pink legwarmers on his ankles. The other was a grown man wearing sunglasses, a pink necktie, no shirt and khaki pants.

"Oh you must be Abigail, I'm Mr. Gar. I look forward to seeing you working here at the bodega, speaking of which...I should probably give you this", he said as he held up something.

It was a blue vest similar to ones worn by Rad, Enid and the little boy; Abby figured it was her work attire, so she took the vest from Mr. Gar, walked into the break room, took off her hoodie and put the vest on.

She walked back outside, "Alright now that you've got your vest, there's some boxes in the back. The items inside need to be shelved, so why don't you go get started on that Abby", said Mr. Gar.

As he walked away, the little boy approached Abby. "Hello, my name is K.O. What's your name?", he said. Abby smiled at him, "My name's Abigail but you can call me Abby for short. Nice to meet you, K.O.", she said as she patted him on the head.

"Say Abby, why does your voice sound so weird? It sounds like you have the voice of a twelve year old boy", said Rad. This prompted Enid to slap him in the back of his head, "Rad, you dingus! She just started working here and you're already asking her awkward questions! For Cob's sake, at least get to know her first", she said.

Abby rubbed her arm nervously, "Its okay, Enid. He's just a little curious, so I can't blame him. But she's got a point, Rad. Maybe I'll explain it to you some other time, but not now. I better go start shelving those items", she said as she walked towards the back of the bodega. As she bent down to open the boxes, Abby noticed that K.O. had followed her and was opening the boxes as well.

"What are you doing here, K.O.?", she asked. "Oh I'm helping put away these items, its your first day so I figured you could use the help", he said with a smile. Abby smiled as she picked up a box and walked back outside, placing some of the items on the higher shelves while K.O. placed some on the lower shelves. They made several trips back and forth to collect the other boxes and put the items on the proper shelves.

Abby then joined K.O. in mopping the floor, deciding they each take one section of the store to clean, during which they decided to have a conversation. "So Abby, did you just move here to Lakewood?", asked K.O. "Oh no, I've actually lived here for the past two years. Its It's just that I wanted to get a job and when I saw an ad that Gar's bodega was hiring, I decided to apply. So far, this is a neat place", she said.

"I live not too far from here with my mommy, what's your family like?", said K.O. Abby suddenly grew quiet and let out a small sigh, "I live in a small cottage in the woods not too far from town. I live with my older brother Desmond, I never knew my father and my mother died when I was a baby", she said somberly. K.O. had a sad expression on his face and ran up to Abby, hugging her around the waist, which drew attention to how tall she was for her age because of how tiny he looked standing next to her.

"Abby, I'm sorry. I didn't know...I wouldn't have asked if I...", he was cut off when Abby put her index finger to his lips. "Its okay, K.O. As sad as it is, I've learned to live with it. Again, my father was never around so I never met him, and I lost my mom when I was just a baby so I don't really remember her. In fact, there are a lot of things in my early childhood I don't remember", she said.

K.O. stared down at his feet, "If it makes you feel better, I know how you feel. I still don't know who my Dad is, I think about it sometimes and I wish I could meet him someday. Maybe he was a hero just like my Mom, I don't know and I probably won't ever find out", he said.

The air around the two became thick with an awkward sadness, Abby looked around to find something that might change the subject. That was when she noticed the POW Card machine, "Hey uh, K.O. What's that over there?", she asked.

K.O. turned to look at where she was pointing to, "Oh that's the POW Card machine, it has tons of POW Cards of famous heroes and even some villains too. Come on, let me show you", he said as he led her to the machine. He showed her that on the front of the machine were two buttons: one that would dispense cards from within the machine and another that would give one their own POW Card. "What's the 'self' button for, K.O.?", asked Abby.

"If you push that button, the machine will give you your own POW Card. I've got my own, you should push it and see what your power level", said K.O. as he pulled his POW Card from his hair and showed it to Abby. She could see that his power level was at a 4, making her curious as to what hers was. So she pushed the 'self' button on the machine, it made a few beeping sounds before a card slid out of the slot.

Abby took the card and looked at it; it had a picture of her striking a dynamic pose, near the bottom it said her full name 'Abigail Zigdras' and next to her name was her power level. Both she and K.O. were taken by surprise by the number, "WHOA! Your power level is 15! You're not even a grownup and you're at Level 15?! That's awesome, you must be very powerful!", K.O. said excitedly.

Before Abby could even question the logistics of her power level being so high, an alarm suddenly blared through the bodega as a bright red light flashed. "K.O...WHAT'S HAPPENING?!", she yelled out over the alarm as she tried to block her sensitive ears from its noise. "Its another robot from Boxmore, they're here to attack the plaza!", he shouted as he ran outside with Rad and Enid.

Abby followed after them, just in time to see a giant box fall from the sky; the box opened up to reveal a small army of amount twenty Darryls, all of them armed with laser whips and swords. "Looks like Boxman's trying out a new gimmick. Gotta give him points for creativity", said Rad. "Well creative or not, we'll still take these bots down just like always", said Enid.

Suddenly, the Darryls charged at the three heroes: Enid jumped into the air and spin kicked three of them, Rad picked a few in his tractor beam and swung them around smashing into some of the others, and K.O. fired power fists at the bots while also jumping to and fro in order to dodge their attacks.

While this was going on, Abby hid underneath a bench that was nearby; she knew Lakewood was full of heroes, with the Plaza being a major hangout spot for them, but she never expected to get caught in a fight between a group of heroes and villains. She wanted to help her coworkers/new friends but she was too scared of being caught in the crossfire.

Suddenly, four of the Darryls spotted her under the bench and ripped it out of the ground, exposing her; Abby let out a scream of terror as she threw her arms over her head, her entire body quaking in fear. "No! Leave her alone!", K.O. shouted as he charged at the four Darryls, punching two in the face. But as he did, he left his back turned and his guard was down allowing the other two to sneak up behind him. "K.O., look out!", Abby screamed.

K.O. didnt turn around in time and one of the Darryls swung his laser whip at him, electrocuting him; K.O. let out a loud scream before he fell face first onto the floor. Abby saw this and suddenly became very angry, she had only known K.O. for all of half an hour but in that short amount of time she learned that the two of them have an understanding of what its like to grow up without a parent/parents, and that the two have a lot in common.

She considered him a friend and now he was getting zapped by these ridiculous robots while she sat cowering in fear. "What am I even doing? A real hero wouldn't sit here and cower while their friends needed help! I've got a power level of 15, time to justify it!", she said to herself as she leapt into the air and landed gracefully in the middle of the battlefield.

"Hey tall, red and stupid! Pick on someone your own size!", she shouted at the Darryls that were still attacking K.O. They left him alone and charged towards Abby, readying their whips and swords; Abby positioned herself in a fighting pose as she pulled her right hand back, closed her eyes and concentrated. As the first Darryl jumped up to slash at her with his sword, Abby's eyes suddenly opened, having turned to a glowing red color; a bright purple flame engulfed her right hand.

"ULTRA...FLAMING...PUNCH!"

Abby launched her fist forward, punching the Darryl square in the face, knocking his head off and causing his body to explode into purple flames; she then back flipped into another cluster of Darryls and began throwing a torrent of flaming punches at every single one of them, smashing them to pieces or causing them to spontaneously combust upon contact with her fiery hands.

K.O. lifted his face up from the ground just in time to see Abby's feet were now engulfed in purple flames as well. "SPINNING FIRE KICK!", she shouted as she spin kicked the few remaining Darryls, effortlessly slicing through their bodies as if they were made of butter. When she finally stopped, she looked around to see she had destroyed every Darryl, excluding the ones that had been taken out by Rad, Enid and K.O.

Abby fell backwards onto her rear end, panting from exertion; she looked up to see the others standing in front of her. "That...was...AWESOME!", K.O. excitedly shouted. "Yeah, Abby! That was the single coolest thing I've ever seen in like...ever!", said Rad. "Yeah...how exactly did you do all that, Abby?", asked Enid. Abby stopped panting as she leaned backwards on her hands, "I'm not sure...I just know that I got super mad when those robots hurt K.O. and I wanted to fight back.

"I closed my eyes as I thought really hard, trying to see if I actually had any power I could use. That's when I felt this strong force flowing through my body, wanting to get out; I concentrated that energy into my hand and it turned into a purple flame that I used to fight the robots. Then when I saw that they were all destroyed, as quickly as that power rose up inside me, it just...dissipated. I think it's only dormant when I'm not fighting, which probably explains why I never knew I had it because I've never fought anyone before", she said.

K.O. smiled at her, "Well either way, you did really great out there. Its a no wonder you're at level 15", he said. This made Rad and Enid stop in their tracks, "Wait a second...you're at level 15?", said Rad. Abby reached into her pants pocket and pulled out her POW Card, showing it to them; when they saw the level, their jaws dropped. "No way! You're at level 15? But...you're not even an adult yet!", said Rad. "Yeah, to be this strong at your age, you must've gond through intense training day and night, slowly leveling up until you reached this number", said Enid.

"Then either the machine is on the fritz or I just had some hidden potential I never about because I've never done any training or anything having to do with combat, I generally don't like fighting", said Abby. "Well, now you know just how strong you are and that you're a real hero", said K.O.

Just then, Mr. Gar arrived on the scene. "Nice work on taking care of that squadron of Darryls, team. Now I shall congratulate your achievements individually: Enid, nice work on those spin kicks. Rad, smart thinking using your finger beam to fling the bots around. K.O., great to see your power punches have improved tremendously. And Abby, that was the most amazing display I've ever seen and from a newbie no less, great job! Now, I want this place cleaned up", he said before walking away.

The group used brooms and dustpans to sweep up all the broken robot parts before dumping them into the dumpster behind the bodega, "Well I don't know about the rest of you guys but that fight made me work up quite an appetite", said Rad. "Yeah, now that you've mentioned it...I'm pretty hungry too", said Enid. "I know! Who wants to go get some burritos? Mom recently doubled my allowance so I've got enough to buy us all lunch", K.O. suggested.

The group agreed as they finished their cleanup duty and headed over to the burrito shop, "Oh by the way, Abby...when we get back, I'll get you a binder of your own so you can start your own POW Card collection like me. And since we're friends now, we can get together and trade cards", said K.O. Abby smiled as she ruffled his hair, "Thanks, K.O. I really appreciate that", she said as she followed her new friends to the burrito shop to have lunch.

Author's Note: That's it for the first Chapter of 'Even Villains can be Heroes'. I wanted to establish something I feel I didn't make clear in that message attached to Light of Hope 2: Season 3 of OK K.O. is where all the major plot points take place like K.O. locking T.K.O in his subconscious or the reveal that Professor Venomous was both Laser Blast and K.O.'s father, my story will operate on a separate continuity in which Season 3 doesn't happen the way it did in the show but rather how I'll write it.

Anyway, come back next time for Chapter 2; until then, this is Superkirbyland234 signing out!


	2. Chapter 2

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 2: Getting to Know You

Abby took a big bite out of her chicken burrito, washing it down with a bottle of soda; she sat at a table with an umbrella attached to it, she was enjoying lunch with her new friends Rad, Enid and K.O. after their fight with the army of Darryls.

It was Abby's first real fight and she had proven to be a very capable fighter, even if she had never fought before. Or had she? Honestly, she couldn't remember much of her life from before the age of seven, and as she tried to think about it, the memories seemed blocked by something. But she never really thought too much about since it didn't seem to bother her all that much.

"Hey uh Abby, I wasn't able to earlier but I wanted to apologize for what I said before. I didn't mean to make you feel awkward about your funny voice", said Rad. Abby gave him a small smile, "Its okay, Rad. Actually, since we're friends now, I feel more comfortable explaining to you the reason behind that. You see...the reason I sound like a boy is because I'm transgender", she said.

Rad and Enid's eyes widened but K.O. looked on in confusion, "What's that? I mean...what's you?", asked K.O. to no one in particular. Rad and Enid were sweating nervously and had awkward grins on their faces, they reallly didn't know what to do or say. Just then, someone approached them; Abby looked to see it was a young Kappa girl with brown hair and was wearing a yellow jumpsuit and blue shoes. "Oh hi Dendy, how you doing?", said K.O.

"Greetings K.O., I'm doing just fine. Its nice to see you today. Oh and who is this?", said Dendy as she gestured to Abby. "Dendy, this is Abby. She just started working at the bodega today. Abby, this is my friend Dendy", said K.O. Abby smiled and waved at the little Kappa girl. "Well its nice to meet you too", said Dendy.

"Say Dendy, can I ask you a question? Do you know what a transgender is?", asked K.O. Rad and Enid remained quiet as they still didn't know how to explain, but just as they finally worked up the nerve to speak, Dendy beat them to the punch.

"Trans is an umbrella term for those whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were given at birth, for example, transgender or transsexual people. Some trans people may feel that they are a man born into a female body or a woman born into a male body", she said. Enid facepalmed as Rad dropped his head onto the table, K.O. simply looked on with a questioning expression. "So Abby, you're actually a..."

"Yes K.O. When I was eleven, I used to be a boy by the name of Arthur, but deep down inside, I felt like I was really supposed to be a girl. I told my older brother Desmond about it, explaining that I knew I was a girl inside and I wanted to be one on the outside. He knew I wasn't happy so he took me to the hospital where I got surgery to make me look like a girl on the outside and now I take medication to help me be one on the inside, we also went to a courthouse to have my name legally changed to Abigail", she said.

K.O. then had an enlightened look on his face, "Ohh, okay. That's pretty neat, but why was it so awkward for you to explain before? And why are you guys acting so weird, Rad and Enid?", he asked. Rad was just picking his head back up when he asked that and he slammed it back down, Enid was nervously rubbing the back of her head. "Well K.O...you see its because...um-"

"K.O., its a rather uncomfortable topic to bring up for two reasons: 1) transgender people are often bullied and mocked for being transgender, more often than not they are also physically assaulted by others or abused by their families because they don't accept their choice of gender. And 2) Most people aren't able to fully understand the concept of transgenderism, there are many places where they can find information and learn more about it but some people are either too ignorant or lazy to make the effort to do so", said Dendy.

"Yeah...what Dendy said", Enid uttered rather quickly. K.O. looked at Abby sadly, "Oh no...I'm sorry if you were bullied for that, Abby. It must've been tough for you growing up", he said. Abby smiled, "Oh no, K.O. I wasn't bullied growing up. For one thing, my gender identity isn't something I'd bring up in conversation unless its with someone I trust, like you guys. And second, I've stayed in one place for too long to make any friends, let alone enemies.

"For some weird reason, my older brother has always been moving us around a lot. Whenever I ask him why, he'd always say its because of work or because the neighborhood we lived in wasn't really as safe as he thought. I thought it was weird, but I never questioned it. My brother is a mechanical engineer and he receives money for the inventions he makes, so I suppose business slowed down too much that he needed to leave so he could make more money", she said.

"Well, you have friends now, Abby. And we'll never judge you for it, its all about who you are that really matters", said K.O. Abby smiled widely as a soft blush appeared on her face, patting the boy on the head.

Later on, the group returned to the bodega; there weren't many customers, so they were able to sit around and do whatever they wanted. Rad was playing around on his phone, Enid was reading a magazine and K.O. and Abby were over by the POW Card machine talking about the cards. "Say K.O., why do some of these cards have negative numbers?", asked Abby.

"Oh, some cards have negative numbers because those are villains, and the negative numbers represent that they're bad", said K.O. Abby looked at the cards before slipping them into her new binder, K.O. had helped her start her own POW Card collection and it was almost as extensive as his collection was. "I can't wait to show this to Desmond, he told me when he was a kid he used to collect things. Although, it was discarded bolts and screws he collected. He really likes tech and machinery", said Abby.

Just then, the store bell rang as someone had entered the bodega; it was an adult woman with blond hair and light brown skin, wearing a red headband, red gloves, a purplish blue jumpsuit and white shoes. K.O. sprang up and ran towards the woman, "Hey Mommy!", he said excitedly as he threw his arms around her legs, hugging her. The woman smiled as she bent down to pat him on the head, "Hey there, Peanut. You ready to head home now?", she said.

Before he answered, K.O. ran over to Abby, grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the woman. "Mom, I want you to meet my new friend, Abby. Abby, this is my mom", he said. The woman smiled and stuck her hand out, "Nice to meet you, sweetie. Most people call me Ms. Kincaid, but you can call me Carol if you want, I don't mind", she said. "Nice to meet you too, Ms. Kin-I mean Carol", said Abby with a smile.

"Hey Mom, can Abby come over so we can hang out? Please", said K.O. with big puppy dog eyes. Carol let out a small laugh, "Oh alright but if its okay with Abby's parents", she said. Abby let out an awkward cough, "Big brother, actually. I...don't have parents unfortunately", she said which prompted Carol to give her an apologetic look. Abby took out her cellphone so she could text her brother.

_Abby: 'Hey Dessie, is it cool if I hang out with K.O. this afternoon?'_

_Desmond: 'Who's K.O.?'_

_Abby: 'A friend from work. He's a sweet little kid, probably nine or ten years old, and he wants to invite me over to his house. His mom said it was okay, so can I go?'_

_Desmond: '...Alright but promise me you'll be home before it gets too dark'_

_Abby: 'I promise. 3 u, big bro'_

_Desmond: '3 u 2'_

Abby put her phone back into her pocket and looked at K.O., "My brother said I can come over", she said. K.O. cheered as he bounced up and down in joy, "Well, go grab your things while I go and start the car", said Carol. Abby walked to the breakroom to grab her hoodie and bag, as she strolled out, she waved bye to Rad and Enid who waved back and walked outside to the car; while she had been getting her things, Carol had taken the liberty to tie Abby's bike to the back of the car.

She climbed into the backseat with K.O. as his mom drove out of the parking lot and onto the road towards the house. When they got there, Abby saw that K.O. also lived in a one floor house, but it was a much longer house than hers was; when they walked, Abby sat on the living room couch which had a one bed bunk bed above it. "This is my bed, Abby. And there's the kitchen, the bathroom is over there and my Mom's room is over that way", said K.O. as he pointed out the inner interior of his home to show her.

"You kids just sit there and get comfy, I'm gonna head to the kitchen and make dinner. You like spaghetti, Abby?", said Carol. "Oh yeah, I love spaghetti. Thank you", said Abby. While she was making dinner, K.O. and Abby sat on the couch watching tv. "This is like my house almost. With just me and my brother, it gets really quiet all the time. The same can be said about your house, K.O. Does the constant silence ever bother you?", asked Abby.

"Hmm...not really. Yeah it's just me and my Mom here and it does get quiet but it's not a bother. I love my Mom, and I love that it's just the two of us because that means I don't have to share her", said K.O. Abby laughed at that, it reminded her of how much she loved Desmond and how she was a little happy he was her only sibling because it meant she got all the love and attention she wanted.

"Kids, dinner is ready!", Carol called out from the kitchen. K.O. and Abby headed to the table and sat down as Carol placed a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of both of them. Abby smiled as she took a bite, admiring how tasty the food was. "Thank you for the food, Carol. It's very delicious", she said. "Your welcome, Abby", said Carol admiring how polite and respectful Abby was.

After dinner, Abby and K.O. sat in the living room and played video games; then they sat on the couch talking about their POW Card collections and comparing cards. Soon it was 8:00pm and Abby noticed the sky was starting to darken, "Oh man, I gotta go. I promised my brother I would come home before it got too dark out", she said as she gathered her POW Cards back into her binder, slipped on her hoodie and grabbed her purse.

"You sure you don't want me to drive you home, kiddo? It is getting dark out there and K.O. mentioned that you do live pretty far", suggested Carol. "No thank you, I'll manage. And besides, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you. Bye K.O., I'll see you at the bodega tomorrow", said Abby as she headed out the door. She got on her bike and rode her way onto the main road to head back home.

As she was cycling down the road that passed by Lakewood Plaza, her heard something; one noise sounded like a scream while the other sounded more like a deep growl. Abby got off her bike and walked around to find the source of the sounds; she then came upon a crazy scene in an alleyway: in the alleyway, there was a creature that crouched on four legs, had red eyes and jet black fur and its mouth was opened into a smile so wide it stretched up to the sides of its face.

Its was growling and licking its lips with its serpentine tongue as it had backed someone into a corner of the alleyway, the person Abby could only slightly make out in the scarce amount of light given off by a lamppost was revealed to be a small green mouse girl. The little girl curled up into a ball as she shook with fear, the strange creature slowly stalking towards her.

"Hey, leave her alone!", Abby shouted as she sprang and delivered a flaming kick the to creature's jaw, knocking it several feet away. She then bent down to check on the little mouse girl, "You okay, kid? Nothing broken?", she asked. With her back turned, Abby hadn't noticed the creature get back up and turn towards her. "LOOK OUT!", the mouse girl screamed. Abby barely had time to react as the creature lunged at her with its mouth opened impossibly wide.

Abby thought fast and concentrated to create her fire fists again, grabbing the upper and lower jaws of the creature, and holding it back; even with her fire ability, the monster's sharp teeth still cut into Abby's hands causing them to bleed. Abby winced from the pain but she was about to just give up, not when an innocent child needed help; she thought long and hard about how she could finally take this thing out when a idea came to her.

Abby closed her eyes and concentrated once again, she could feel a pressure slowly build up in her lungs; it started out small and warm but soon this pressure became stronger and stronger, growing hotter by the minute until it was scorching but amazingly it didn't burn her. Abby felt her cheeks puff out and without warning, she spewed a torrent of blazing hot purple flames right into the open maw of the creature, incinerating it from the inside out.

The creature shrieked in agony as writhed and squirmed, trying to escape but Abby's vice like grip held it in place; eventually, the red glow of its eyes faded and its thrashing had stopped. Abby ceased her fire breath and dropped the lifeless black husk onto the ground, its body dissipating into black smoke. Abby took a minute to catch her breath before she turned to face the mouse girl.

"Its okay, kiddo. That monster won't bother you anymore, so...are you okay? What were you even doing out here at this time anyway?", she said. The mouse girl slowly stood up and walked over to her, "I was playing with my remote controlled airplane, I didn't notice it was getting late. Then my plane flew off somewhere I couldn't see and when I tried to find it, that...**_thing_** came out of nowhere and tried to eat me. I'm fine, but are you sure you're okay cause...", she trailed off when she pointed at Abby's cut riddled hands.

"They're just scratches, I'll fine. Why don't I help you find your toy and then get you home", said Abby as she picked the mouse girl up and held her in her arms. "By the way, my name is Abigail but you can call me Abby. What's your name?", she said. "My name's Fink. I really hope the Boss isn't too mad or worried about me, I did stay out way longer than he said I should", said the green mouse girl. Abby smiled at the little mouse, "I'm sure he won't be too upset with you. I think he'll mostly be happy to see you're okay", she said.

Abby soon found the toy plane stuck on a low branch of a small tree; she reached up and grabbed it, giving it to Fink. "Alright, now can you show me where you live?", she asked. Fink pointed in the direction of Boxmore, which made Abby tense up a bit; she remembered K.O. saying earlier that day that the metal box of Darryls had been sent from Boxmore to attack the Plaza, and now she actually had to go there to take Fink home.

It's not that she didn't want to help Fink get home, is was the most heroic thing to do on top of saving her from a monster, but she was worried about what would happen if she, a hero from the Plaza, entered a place home to villains. Swallowing her fears, Abby approached the door and knocked on it three times; the doors opened to reveal a tall man with black spiky hair and purple skin, wearing a lab coat.

"Boss!", shouted Fink as she leapt out of Abby's arms and ran up to the man. "Fink, what have I told you about playing outside so late? You know I'm working and can lose track of time, so I don't know whether or not you came back in", said the man. Fink looked down as her cheeks turn red with embarrassment, "Sorry Boss, I lost track of time too and I didn't notice it got dark. And I was almost eaten by some weird black dog monster, but Abby here saved me", she said as she pointed at Abby.

The man looked towards Abby who smiled sheepishly and waved, "Well then, thank you for keeping my little minion safe. Abby, was it? I'm Professor Venomous", he said as he held his hand out. Despite her hesitance, Abby shook his hand; she was genuinely surprised, for a villain he was very polite. "Boss, the monster cut up Abby's hands really bad with its teeth. Can you fix her up?", asked Fink. Venomous looked at Abby's hands to see the cuts that still bled, "Yes I think I can. Come inside, Abby, so I can patch your hands up", he said.

Abby backed away, a look of fear and uncertainty on her face. "Is something wrong? If you don't let me take care of those cuts, they'll soon get infected", said Venomous. "I...I can't come in. For one thing, its getting darker by the second and I need to get home before my older brother gets mad, and second...I'm a hero from Lakewood Plaza now and this place is home to villains. I shouldn't be here", said Abby.

Venomous gave her a reassuring smile, "I see. Well, on any other occasion, you'd have a point but since you helped Fink and she seems to like you, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I can't say the same for Boxman, but you're safe around me. Now come in so I can fix up your hands", he said. As unsure as she was, Abby followed him inside the building and to his office/lab; Abby was still scared but she assured herself that if anything went wrong, she could easily escape.

Abby sat in a chair wincing as Venomous wiped the blood off her hands with an antiseptic wipe, he then spread antibacterial cream onto the cuts before covering them with bandages. "There we go, all better now. You'll only need to change those bandages about two or three times before those cuts completely healed", he said. Abby looked down at her bandaged hands before looking up at Venomous with a grateful smile, "Thank you, Professor Venomous. Well, I should get going now", she said as she got up.

Abby suddenly felt something yank on her tail, she looked down to see Fink grabbing her tail. "Awww, do you really have to go?", she asked with big puppy dog eyes. Abby felt her heart melt while looking at the cute little mouse girl but she knew she had to leave, "I'm sorry but if I don't get home soon, my brother is going to lose his marbles! And besides I promised I wouldn't come home too late", she said.

"Well it's not that late yet but it's too dark for you to see outside. Let me drive you to your house, and don't worry about me knowing where you live and take advantage of that. If you still don't trust me, I'll stop several feet away from your house so I don't see it", said Venomous. Abby was still unsure but she allowed him to take her home in his car; her bike was strapped to the back of the car as she sat in the backseat with Fink.

Speaking of Fink, she was leaning against Abby, nuzzling her as Abby stroked her green hair. "Fink really seems to like you. Have you ever thought of being a babysitter? There are times where I'm too busy to look after Fink and I need someone to watch her, would you like to do it?", said Venomous. Abby thought about it: she did have a soft spot in her heart for small children, which explained why she got along so well with K.O., and she had always wanted to babysit in the past but was too young and still needed a sitter herself.

"If you promise to not try to hurt me, my brother or my friends, then I'll babysit Fink for you whenever you're busy. I want you to give me your word because I still don't fully trust you", said Abby. When he stopped at a red light, Venomous held up both of his hands to show that none of his fingers were crossed. "I promise you that I won't harm you or those you care about, and besides, I care about Fink and if she likes you, then you're alright in my book", he said.

The car stopped ten feet away from Abby's house, she got out and unclipped her bike; she waved goodbye and rode the rest of the way to her house, when she got in, she was greeted by Desmond who looked at her with a smirk. "You're only a minute late, that's a new record", he said as he let out a small laugh. Abby smiled as she hung her hoodie on the coat rack and took off her vest, that was when Desmond saw the bandages on her hands.

"Abigail, what happened to your hands?!", he asked frantically. She looked down at them and sighed, she explained to him about how her day went; she told Desmond that the day went by slowly as she did things like shelf items and mop the floor, then she hung out with K.O., then there was the fight with the Boxmore robots where she discovered her fire powers.

Then she had lunch with her friends, went back to work and afterwards hung out with K.O. at his house where his mother had given her dinner, and as she was on her way home, she saw a green mouse girl named Fink about to be attacked by a black dog like creature; she had saved her by fighting off the monster which is how she cut her hands.

Abby then told him that she took Fink home and her..."father" had patched up her hands and gave her a ride home, and how she also agreed to babysit Fink every once and a while. Desmond sighed, "Well I guess I can't stop you from being a hero and fighting to defend your friends and the Plaza, but all I ask is that you be careful. Alright, now go to bed, its pretty late", he said.

Abby smiled as she let out a small yawn, she walked over to Desmond and gave him a hug before walking to her room; she placed the vest on a hanger and hung it up in the closet, she then stripped off her clothes and put on her pajamas. She tossed her dirty clothes into the laundry basket and climbed into bed, shutting off the lights and curling up beneath the blankets, slowly falling asleep.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 2, come back soon for Chapter 3; until then, this is Superkirbyland234 signing out!


	3. Chapter 3

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 3: Voices & New Abilities

(Side note: This chapter takes place during the episode "T.K.O.'s House, but is a redone version and from Abby's perspective).

_~Dream Sequence~_

_Abby sat in the middle of a dense forest at night, a full moon hung low in the sky with many twinkling stars around it and a cool breeze blew through the trees. A small campfire was in front of Abby, barely flickering due to how small it was; Abby looked at it in confusion, wondering who lit it because it wasn't her who had done so._

**_The flame is dying, but you can grant it life. Place your hand into the flame._**

_The mysterious disembodied voice took Abby by surprise but it wasn't a particularly scary or evil sounding voice, it was a pretty deep voice but it sounded gentle and guiding, almost like a mentor instructing their student. Abby calmly stuck her hand into the campfire, surprised by the fact that her hands weren't burning, and closed her eyes; she slowly breathed in and out, feeling her inner fire rise up within her and exit her hands._

_Her flames mixed in with the campfire, the combination of colors transforming it from orange to a beautiful burnt sienna; Abby let out an excited squeal, the sight and idea of her making such brilliant colors with her powers pleasing her._

**_Yes, I sense your happiness. You are very gifted, but creating such beautiful flames is not the only thing you can do._**

_"Wait...that's all? What other powers do I have? What else can I do?", asked Abby._

**_I cannot tell you, for what is the point of giving you all the answers? But I can tell you this, something is going to happen. Something that shall change not only your life but the lives of those you care for, and only you will know what to do when the time comes._**

_This made Abby feel unsure of herself, not knowing what to expect or think, but she felt the breeze blow through her hair as if to reassure her. When she opened her eyes, after having closed them due to the wind, Abby saw K.O. standing in front of her. "K.O., what are you doing here?", she asked. K.O. merely stood there with his eyes closed and his hair blowing in the wind._

**_There is a darkness within your friend, not of evil but it is a hindrance to his goal of heroism. If you wanted, you could remove that darkness and, like the fire, breathe life into it. Release the darkness and show it the beauty of life._**

_Abby watched as K.O. held his hand out to her, waiting for her to grasp it; she looked at his outstretched hand and slowly lifted her hand to grab it. Her hand came closer until she placed it within K.O.'s hand..._

_~End of Dream Sequence~_

Abby awoke the next morning to the sound of her alarm clock ringing; she groaned as she sat up and shut it off, yawning and stretching her arms. For a moment, she pondered the weird dream she had and what was the meaning of it. Abby just brushed it off as she got out of bed to get ready for work, after showering and getting dressed, she headed over to the kitchen to have breakfast.

As she was cooking eggs and bacon on the stove, Desmond rolled into the kitchen holding a newspaper. "Morning, bro. Want some breakfast? There's still a couple of bacon slices in the fridge", said Abby. He was distracted for a moment by the newspaper but absentmindedly nodded which prompted her to make more food, good thing they had a four slot toaster so she could toast both hers and Desmond's bread slices.

"Whatcha looking at?", asked Abby. "The newspaper...there's a story here about a child disappearing from their house in the middle of the night, they were a young anthropomorphic cat. The strangest part was that the house wasn't broken into, but rather it looked as though the child got out of bed and climbed out the window", he said as he turned on the coffee maker and brewed up some coffee.

Abby placed their breakfast platters on the table, "Don't worry too much, Dessie. The authorities and heroes of this town are sure to find that poor kid, they were probably sleepwalking or ran away for some weird reason", she said as she sat down to have breakfast after pouring herself a glass of orange juice. Desmond sighed as he poured some coffee into his mug, "I guess you're right, still...be careful when you come home later. I don't want anything bad to happen to you", he said.

This prompted Abby to smile, her brother had always been very protective of her, sometimes she found it annoying but other times, like now, she found it really sweet because it showed just how much her brother really cared for her; Abby stood up and placed her dirty dish into the sink before she walked over to give him a hug, "I know you worry about my safety but I can protect myself, plus I've got friends now whom I trust to have my back. So don't stress yourself out too much, big bro. Bye, love you", she said as she grabbed her and head outside to her bike.

Desmond sighed as watched her cycle away on her bike, taking small bites of his breakfast. "I know you don't always need me to watch over you but sometimes...I wish I could. If only to make sure that you are safe", he said to himself.

Abby rode up to the bodega and chained her bike to the rack before heading inside, she spotted Rad and Enid standing by the counter just idling around out of boredom and K.O. was mopping the floor while whistling a catchy tune; Abby went to grab a mop as well and joined her little buddy in cleaning the floor. Just then, someone in dark clothing and a hood walked into the bodega and strolled across the room.

Suddenly K.O. sprang up and started chasing the person through the store, scaring Abby by how abruptly he took off; K.O. then fired a power fist at the guy, forcing them to duck and allowing it to fly through the wall leaving a hole. The person stood up revealing them to be some guy with a round head and a pointed nose, "OOOH, OKAY!", he shouted before running away and flopping out of the hole while screaming. Rad and Enid looked at K.O. with big grins while giving him a thumbs up, "You almost took out Pird!", Enid said happily.

K.O. sighed before heading into the breakroom, Abby took a few breaths to calm herself down and took a moment to question why K.O. was acting so odd and why he'd attack an innocent customer; she also wondered why Rad and Enid were so happy about but she could only assume that they didn't like that one guy in particular. She tried to take her mind off it by continuing to mop the floor.

Suddenly, K.O. sprang out of the breakroom and started flopping around on the floor like a fish on land, "Hey guys, I'm going to...STINKING...head out cause...YOU SMELL!", K.O. said/shouted at Rad and Enid. Then he started spouting off a bunch of juvenile insults at them before saying bye and flopping out the door. Now Abby was really taken aback by K.O.'s behavior but she kept her feelings to herself as she didn't want to come across as complainy on the off chance this was a normal occurrence.

Abby finished mopping and went to go restock the slushy machine and stack the fruits on display, just then the sound of something huge hitting the ground which caused the ground to rumble; the rumbling made Abby accidentally drop the oranges she was stacking, which frustrated her but she knew that sound could've only come from a giant Boxmore box filled with robots, so this was a perfect opportunity to vent out her frustration.

Abby ran outside with Rad and Enid, ready to kick some robotic butt but when the box opened up, its contents were revealed to not be another Boxmore robot but instead it was Fink carrying a little green backpack. "Fink? What are you doing here?", asked Abby. Fink happily ran towards her on all fours and jumped into her arms, "The boss wanted me to give you this", she said as she held up a folded piece of paper.

But before Abby could read it, Rad used his tractor beam to yank it from Fink's hand and opened it to see what it said. The note read as such:

_Dear Abigail,_

_I have to attend a meeting with the Board of Investors and I don't know how long it will take. Since I might be gone all day long, I've told Fink she could stay with you until I come back. I was going to have Boxman's robots look after her but then I remembered you offered to babysit Fink whenever I needed, so I asked you. I hope Fink doesn't give you too much trouble. Thanks again._

_Signed,_

_Professor Venomous_

Rad and Enid looked at Abby with questioning expressions, "How do you know Professor Venomous? How does he know you?", asked Enid. "Yeah and why would he ask you to babysit Fink?", asked Rad. "Its because yesterday I saved Fink from being attacked by some weird monster and then he treated these cuts I had on my hands. Since Fink really seems to like me, I made a deal with Venomous: I'd babysit Fink whenever he needed someone to look after her and in exchange, he'd leave my friends and brother alone", said Abby.

The two bodega employees looked at her as if she suddenly sprouted two heads, "Abby you don't seriously trust Professor Venomous, do you? That guy's a villain! How do you he's not just using you?", said Rad. Abby looked down nervously before looking back at her friends, "Because I knew he wasn't lying, if he wanted to hurt me, he would've done so when I brought Fink back to him. I told him I was a hero from the Plaza, and he still treated my cuts and took me home.

"I know this is gonna sound odd but for a villain he's actually not that bad of a guy. And also, he cares for Fink and since she likes me, he said he'd keep his word and not hurt me or any of you; also, I have my powers of my own, I mean last night I discovered I can breathe fire so I'm more than capable of fighting off anything he throws at me on the off chance he goes back on his promise", she said.

Rad and Enid looked at each other before sighing, "Well if you say so then...we'll trust you Abby. Just be careful and if you're in trouble, then don't hesitate to ask us for help, you may be pretty strong and you're powers are impressive but you're still just a kid. Don't think you have to do everything by yourself", said Enid. Abby smiled at her, "Thanks Enid", she said.

They all went back inside the bodega, that was when Abby realized that K.O. hadn't come back yet and she was starting to get very worried about him; she looked over at Fink who sat on the floor coloring, "Fink, I need you to help me out with something. K.O. stepped out half an hour ago and he hasn't come back yet, I need you to help me find him", she said.

Fink pouted, "Ugh! That little momma's boy? No way!", she said as she crossed her arms. Abby smirked, "If you help me find him, then I'll buy you some ice cream. Any flavor and toppings you want", she said. Fink suddenly turned around with a wide smile on her face, "Any flavor and toppings I want?! Okay, I'll help you find that little momma's boy", she said as she stood up and put her stuff back in her backpack.

She jumped up onto Abby's back, riding on her shoulders as she walked towards the door. "Rad, Enid, I'll be right back. I'm going to go find K.O., if Mr. Gar asks where we are, just tell him we're on our lunch break", said Abby. The duo nodded as Abby headed outside, "So how ya gonna find him?", asked Fink. Abby tilted her nose upward, sniffing the air. "I'm a fox, Fink. We've got a pretty strong sense of smell, I've never used it to find anything but it can't be too hard", she said.

_**Forget your sense of smell, it'll only throw you off. Close your eyes and open your heart, you'll be able to find your friend that way.**_

Abby gasped when she heard that same deep yet gentle voice from her dreams, it was telling her of a different way to find K.O.; she did what it said and closed her eyes, breathing calmly and feeling a strong force flowing around her body. "Hey Abby...you alright?", asked Fink. Abby suddenly opened her eyes and pointed off to an area near the bodega, "K.O.'s over that way! We have to go through a sewer hole and head underground", she said.

Abby rode her bike over to where the sewer tunnel, she crawled through the tunnel and walked down the walkway, crouching down a bit because she was a bit too tall to fit inside. "How do you know he's down here? I didn't see you smelling for him", said Fink. Abby closed her eyes and focused again, that strange energy flowing around her body; even with her eyes closed, Abby could somehow see wisps of this energy flowing through the air.

She saw a green trail winding around her, which must've been Fink; then she saw two other trails, one was blue and another was purple. "I don't need to smell for him, I can feel where he is", said Abby as she opened her eyes and walked in the direction of the energy trails. They led her to an open doorway which led to a large open room with small waterfalls coming from structures in the wall and a large platform with a tall tree; there were also these small glowing orbs floating around in the air.

"Wow...this place is beautiful", Abby whispered as she marveled in the wonderment of this secret chamber while walking down the stairs. Fink looked around the chamber, amazed by its beautiful appearance; that's when she looked down and spotted something near the tree, "Hey Abby, look down there! Its K.O.!", said Fink as she pointed to where he was.

K.O. was lying at the base of the tree with his eyes closed, making it look as if he was asleep. Abby ran over to him and removed Fink from her shoulders, then she bent down to check on him. "K.O., are you okay?", she asked as she gently tapped his cheek. He was breathing but he didn't wake up, leaving Abby stumped.

_**Take his hand and remove his darkness, that will awaken him.**_

Abby heard the voice again and this time, there was nothing to interrupt her as she reached out and grasped K.O.'s hand; she closed her eyes and concentrated as she felt the energy within her reach it's way into K.O.'s body, but then she suddenly hit what felt like a roadblock. "What's going on? I can't release it", she muttered quietly.

_**Its resisting you because its scared, you can't force it leave. You have to gently coax it out, as if you were speaking to a frightened animal.**_

Abby listened to the voice as she then eased her approach, decreasing the amount of energy she was emitting; this time she felt another presence within K.O. slowly coming out, she felt it grasp her hand and let her gently pull it free. The entire time Abby was doing this, Fink was watching the whole; she was wondering what she was doing and was even going to ask her when she saw something come out of K.O.'s body and fall into Abby's arms.

K.O. suddenly woke up, breathing heavily until he came to his senses and noticed who else was in the room. "Fink? What are you doing here?", he asked. "Well I didn't want to go looking for you, but I helped Abby anyway cause she's my babysitter and I like her. Also, she said if I helped out, I get to have ice cream", said Fink. K.O. looked over to see Abby sitting on her knees next to Fink, but that's not what caught his attention.

K.O.'s attention was drawn to the glowing mass Abby gently held in her arms, which slowly began to stop and what was left behind took all three of them by surprise: it was a little boy with dark brown hair and light brown skin, wearing a black shirt with a white star on the front of it, purple shorts and pink legwarmers.

"Its T.K.O.!", shouted K.O. "Who?", asked Abby. "He's my alter-ego, he became kinda like a separate person inside my mind after a villain named Shadowy Figure forced me to unleash my anger. We came here to make him tell us why, but he got away. T.K.O. and I just playing videos game until you came and...took him out, how did you even do that Abby?", said K.O.

Abby looked down at the unconscious boy in her arms, "I don't know...I was looking for you because you took off and I was worried about you, but I have no idea how I was able to remove him from you and give him his own body", she said. T.K.O. let out a small groan as he opened his eyes to see Abby holding him, "Who are you?", he asked in confusion. Abby smiled sheepishly at the little boy, "My name's Abigail but you can call me Abby. I...somehow took you out of K.O.'s mind and made you real", she said.

T.K.O. stared at her for a second before suddenly throwing his arms around torso in a small hug, "Thank you...thank you...thank you", he muttered as he curled into her embrace and began crying. Abby smiled sadly at him as she held him close to her and softly stroked his hair, K.O. leaned in close and ran his hand along T.K.O.'s back to comfort him. Fink crawled over to Abby and held onto her side as the scene was enough to even make her feel bad.

As she sat there comforting the boy she had brought into existence, Abby pondered on how she was even able to do so at all; it already confused her that seemed to have fire abilities and never knew but now she was able to sense where other people are and can pull the darker half of someone's personality and give it life, and she wasn't smart enough to know why or how.

_**You are a smart girl, but intelligence is not needed to know why or how you can do what you do. You've had this power for quite some time, but it's been repressed by an external force. As I said before, something will happen soon and you'll need to be ready for it**_.

Abby was once again taken aback by the voice she heard in her head, she didn't know whether or not it was some external entity guiding her or if she was just losing her mine but all she could do was comfort the boy she suddenly brought into existence.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 3, come back soon for Chapter 4 to see what'll happen now that T.K.O. is a real and what that news story Desmond read about that child going missing could mean; until then, this is Superkirbyland234 signing out!


	4. Chapter 4

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 4: A Deadly Monster Attack

Abby, K.O. and Fink soon returned to the bodega, with Abby carrying T.K.O. in her arms as he still clung to her tightly like a baby koala clinging to its mother's stomach as she climbed a tree. Abby could sense that even though he was grateful for now being a real person, especially since K.O. explained to her about how he had been questioning his own existence, the poor boy was also scared that he was suddenly real.

Abby could only assume that it was the shock of suddenly being pulled out of K.O.'s mind and being his own body had been too much for T.K.O. to handle and that was the reason for why he was so scared and on edge; Abby gently caressed his hair as she tried to ease his fears, K.O. had explained to her that T.K.O. acted a bit like a teenager going through a goth phase and how he loved to fight, so seeing him cling to her torso while whimpering took him by surprise.

They entered the bodega where they were spotted by Rad and Enid. "Oh good, you guys finally came back. We were worried that Mr. Gar would notice you were gone too long and start having a fit", said Rad. Enid was about to say something until she noticed what Abby held in her arms, "Oh no! T.K.O. took over K.O. again!", she said. She and Rad were about to spring into action when K.O. and Fink stood between them and Abby, when they saw K.O. standing before them, they were struck with confusion.

"Wait if you...you're K.O. but then he's...ow, my brain is hurting!", said Rad. "What's going on here?", asked Enid. "Abby went looking for me and when she found me, she somehow pulled T.K.O. out of my mind and gave him his own body. I can't explain how and even Abby doesn't know how, but T.K.O. is real now and he's also really scared too", said K.O. "What's he so scared about?", asked Rad.

"Probably cause you dorks were gonna attack him", said Fink which was surprising because unless it was Venomous, she never defended anyone. Abby stepped forward with a stern expression on her face, "Will you guys stop talking and shouting so aggressively! All you're doing is freaking him out even more! If anyone needs me, I'll be in the breakroom", she said as she walked away. Abby entered the breakroom and sat on the couch, leaning against the arm of the couch.

She ran her hand through T.K.O.'s hair, "Shhh...its okay, little buddy. You're safe, no one is going to hurt you", she whispered soothingly in his ear. T.K.O. let out a small whimper as he looked up at her, "I can't help it! Before I was in K.O.'s mind, everything seemed to make a little sense. I know I hated being stuck in there, I hated Shadowy Figure for bringing me into existence and I questioned why.

"Its not that I don't like being a real person now, but in K.O.'s mind I felt...safe. I felt like after a fight, I could go back to that little house he made me, where I'd be safe. Now that I'm out here, I feel so exposed! And...I feel like my powers have dimmed a bit, that's why I'm so scared; I feel like I can't protect myself if, like I'm...powerless! I hate feeling like that!", said T.K.O. as he felt a little anger start bubble up.

Abby stroked his hair as she tried to calm him down, "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. You know, it's pretty much my fault because I'm the one who pulled you out", she said. T.K.O. sighed as he leaned back and laid on Abby's lap, "No its...its okay, don't beat yourself up about it. I was still unhappy being inside K.O.'s mind, so...I guess it evens out", he said. Abby heard the door to the breakroom open and saw K.O. and Fink peeking inside.

"Um...is it okay if we come in?", asked Fink. Abby smiled and nodded, letting them know it was alright for them to enter the room. They walked in and climbed onto the couch, "How are you feeling, T.K.O.?", asked K.O. T.K.O. sighed, "Confused? Scared? Unsure? Maybe a little angry? To be honest, I don't really know how to feel right now", he said.

Abby felt for T.K.O. and wanted to try to make him feel a little bit better, that's when she thought of something. "K.O., can you go get my bag from the coat rack and bring it to me?", she asked. K.O. stood up from the couch and walked over to the coat rack, retrieving Abby's purse; he sat back down and gave it to her. Abby reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a makeup compact but it was shaped like a cube and had a crank on the back of it.

"What's that?", asked Fink. Abby didn't answer, she simply turned the crank on the back until it couldn't twist any further; then she opened the compact to reveal a tiny fake swan on a spring spinning around while melodious tune came from within it. "Ohh, it's a tiny music box", said K.O.

_Abby: "Let's go in the garden_

_You'll find something waiting_

_Right there where you left it lying upside down_

_When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded_

_The underside is lighter when you turn it around_

_"Everything stays right where you left it_

_Everything stays_

_But it still changes_

_Ever so slightly, daily and nightly_

_In little ways, when everything stays"_

The kids had been taken aback by Abby suddenly singing what almost sounded like a lullaby but they didn't seem to mind all that much, in fact they were actually enjoying the sound of her voice and the music. They all got comfortable on the couch as Abby serenaded them, feeling calm and safe; Fink let out a tiny yawn while K.O. and T.K.O struggled to keep their eyes open.

_Abby: "Go down to the ocean_

_The crystal tide is rising_

_The waters' gotten higher as the shore washes out_

_Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin'_

_The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown_

_"Everything stays, right where you've left it_

_Everything stays, but it still changes_

_Ever so slightly, daily and nightly_

_In little ways_

_When everything stays"._

Meanwhile over at Boxmore, Professor Venomous walked into his lab with a mug of coffee in his hand. "Alone time, maybe now I can work on some of those experiments I've got sitting on the backburner", he said to himself. As he walked over to his desk to place his mug down and look over some paperwork, he heard a strange noise like the sound of someone opening the window.

Sure enough, when Venomous turned around, the window was open. "That's odd, I could've sworn it was closed when I came in here", he muttered as he went to shut the window. He closed the window and turned around only to be caught off guard by a mysterious person standing near his desk. The person wore a white lab coat similar to his, although this one had black stains all over it, and a strange looking hood and gas mask on their head.

"Excuse me? I don't know who you are but this is a privately owned laboratory, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave", said Venomous. The mysterious masked figure didn't respond or even look at him, they just continued to look over his notes and paperwork, many of which were glorb related; the masked figure then pulled a file folder out from within their lab coat and began placing the documents inside of it.

This made Venomous furious, "I don't who you think you are, but you can't just come in here and steal my research notes. Now I'll ask again: either you leave or I'll make you!", he said as he held up a laser gun and pointed it at the figure. When the masked figure finished taking the documents, they slid the file folder back into their lab coat and turned around to face Venomous.

The figure then reached into their pocket and pulled out a small device with three buttons on it, pushing the button at the far top. Just then, Venomous could here the sound of something hard tapping against the floor, he looked to his left as he was suddenly tackled to the ground by a creature with jet black fur and red eyes, similar to the creature that had tried to eat Fink.

Venomous tried to shoot it but the creature lunged forward and snapped its jaws down on his wrist; Venomous screamed as he felt the monster's sharp teeth pierce his flesh, his hand losing grip of the laser gun. Venomous tried to reach over and grab it with his free hand but the masked figure pushed the button again, summoning two more of those red eyed monsters.

One lunged forward and bite Venomous' other wrist, stopping him from grabbing the laser gun, and the other lunged on top of him and sunk its jaws into his abdomen. Venomous screamed out in pain as the creatures continued to gnaw at his flesh, drawing blood and ripping his clothes. The masked figure watched this go on for about a few minutes before pushing the middle button on the device, which commanded the creatures to cease their attack and back away.

Venomous laid on the floor breathing heavily as he bled out, through blurred vision he saw the figure slowly approaching him; the figure bent down to his level and grabbed him by the chin. "You call yourself a real bioengineer? You're an embarrassment, but at least...your research notes on glorbs will be of some use to me. Take pride in knowing you contributed to the next step of evolution", the figure said though the mask made their voice sound muffled.

They then released their grip on Venomous and walked away, climbing onto the back of the largest creature and pushing the last button on the device; this commanded the creatures to run forward and jump through the window, smashing it. Venomous slowly crawled along the floor towards the alarm button on the wall and used the last of his strength to sit up and push it.

Lord Boxman was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on a ham that he was going to bake in the oven for dinner when suddenly the alarm blared out. "**_INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!_**", the sercurity system blared as all the exits shut automatically and all the robots ran about looking for the intruder. Boxman rushed over to Venomous' lab to warn him, "Venomous, there's an intruder in Boxmore! I bet it's those meddlesome Plaza heroes-"

Boxman was cut off when he saw Venomous lying on the floor, covered in blood and barely conscious; Boxman let out a cry of horror as he rushed over to his business partner, "Venomous? Venomous! Venomous, speak to me please! Who did this to you?", said Boxman as tears came to his eyes. Venomous let out a gurgling moan as he looked up at Boxman with half closed eyes, "Thief...mask...papers...red eyes...teeth...black", he muttered incoherently due his delirium as a result of the blood lost.

Venomous let out one more groan before his eyes closed and he lost consciousness, "Venomous? Venomous! Venomous, open your eyes! Please!", shouted Boxman as he started crying much harder.

Back at Gar's bodega, Rad walked over to Enid who stood by the breakroom door while holding a magazine. "Hey Enid, can you help me out here? I'm trying to think of a seven letter word that means the same as awesome, but I can't think of any. Do you know any seven letter words that mean the same as awesome?", he said. "Rad, shh! I'm trying to capture the cuteness factor here", she said as it was revealed she had her phone out and was recording something.

Rad looked to see what she was talking about: inside the breakroom, lying on the couch, was Abby, K.O., T.K.O. and Fink; they were all fast asleep with Abby lying on the couch on her back, T.K.O. lying on the left side of her torso curled under her left arm, Fink lying on the right side of her torso curled under her right arm, and K.O. lying near her legs with his arms wrapped around one of them.

"Awww, they look so cute", said Rad. Enid ended her recording and saved the video onto her phone, "Aren't they just though? I just wanna put 'em in a box and keep 'em forever, they're so pure!", she said. Just then, the two heard the sound of sirens outside the bodega; they ran out to see an ambulance parked outside of Boxmore as a pair of paramedics were wheeling Venomous away on a gurney with a tearful Lord Boxman following close behind.

"Whoa! Looks like something tore Professor Venomous up real bad! What do you think happened?", said Rad. "I don't know but I do know one thing: Fink is not gonna be happy about this one bit when she wakes up", said Enid.

Back inside, Abby yawned as she woke up; she tried to sit up when she looked down and saw that K.O., T.K.O. and Fink were all using her as a pillow. "Oh that's right: I sung that old lullaby Desmond used to sing to me to calm T.K.O. down and I guess it worked a little too well", she chuckled. Abby sat up slowly as she gently roused the children from their naps, "Wakey wakey, kiddos. It's time to get up now", she said.

The three all yawned and stretched, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes as they came to their senses. "Man, that was a really good nap!", said K.O. "Yeah, for once I agree with you. That was really great", said Fink. T.K.O. looked up at Abby, "Abby you said your was? I...um...wanted to say thanks for helping me out. I actually feel a lot better and I don't seem all that scared anymore", he said. Abby smiled as she patted him on the head, "Happy to help", she said.

Just then, Rad and Enid came into the room. "Oh you guys just woke up now. Then you definitely don't know", said Rad. "Don't know about what?", asked Abby. "What happened over Boxmore just now. Someone or something attacked Professor Venomous, he was torn up something fierce and was just loaded into an ambulance Lord Boxman. They're on their way to the hospital now", said Enid.

Upon hearing that her beloved boss was brutally attacked, Fink let out a gasp before she suddenly burst out into tears. Abby picked her up and hugged her as she cried hysterically, "Shh shh, don't cry sweetie. It'll be alright, hush hush", Abby said soothingly but it did nothing to calm Fink down. "We gotta get to the hospital pronto! Rad, Enid, if my Mom comes by to pick me up, tell her where I am. Abby, do you have enough room on your bike for three more passengers?", said K.O.

"No but I've got enough technos in my purse to call a taxi", she said as she pulled out her cellphone and dialed for a cab.

Thrity minutes later, they arrived at the hospital where they were instructed to wait in the waiting room because Venomous was in surgery at the moment; when they entered the waiting room, they came across Boxman sitting at a chair, crying into a wad of tissues while Darryl, Shannon and Raymond stood around him trying to comfort him. He finally looked up to see them with red, puffy eyes. "Oh great, it's the heroes from Lakewood Plaza. What do you want?!", he shouted at them.

"We came to see if Professor Venomous was okay", said K.O. "Oh really? And why you possibly care about what happens to him?", asked Boxman. "Because even though he's a bad guy, a hero should never be happy about someone else getting hurt", said K.O. "Also, Fink had an emotional breakdown when she found out. As her babysitter, I brought her here to see her boss", said Abby as she held Fink close to her. Fink had calmed down a bit but was still quietly sobbing into Abby's shoulder.

Just then, a doctor walked over to the small group. "Give to me straight, doc: is he going to make it?!", said Boxman. The doctor gave them all a reassuring smile, "No need to worry, Professor Venomous is going to be alright. He lost quite a lot of blood but we were lucky enough to have enough blood here with a type matching his to replace it all, and we've managed to stitch up all his wounds. Unfortunately, he's still under the effects of the anesthesia so you can't see him right now, but he'll make a full recovery", he said.

Boxman laughed happily as he embraced his robotic underlings and Fink cried tears of joy as she hugged Abby. "Say doctor, do you know what happened to Professor Venomous?", asked K.O. The doctor looked at his clipboard, "If you want the details on that, you'll have to wait until Venomous wakes up. All I can tell you is there were teeth marks on his body making it look like he was attacked by an animal but I've never seen an animal with teeth so long, wide and jagged", he said.

As the doctor walked away, the group sat in the waiting room wondering when Professor Venomous would wake up, and also wondering who or what had viciously attacked him and why.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 4, come back soon for Chapter 5; until then, this is Superkirbyland234 signing out!


	5. Chapter 5

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 5: Inner Demons

It was partly cloudy the next morning as Abby rode her bike over to the hospital, with Fink sitting in the basket up front; the little mouse girl held a small teddy bear, a bouquet of flowers and a handmade card in her hands. Since Professor Venomous was attacked and hospitalized, Abby had to watch over Fink for the following days and had to bring her with her to work while he recovered.

And of course, Abby agreed to take Fink to visit him in the morning just before going to the bodega because of how much she missed her boss and how concerned she was for his wellbeing; Abby chained her bike to the rack outside the hospital and walked inside, carrying Fink on her shoulders.

They approached the front desk, "Another visit for Professor Venomous, huh? He must be really popular, go on upstairs, visiting hours are still open", said the receptionist. Abby and Fink stepped into the elevator, heading up to the sixth floor; they stepped off the elevator and walked down to room 608, the door to the room was wide open because of the amount of balloons that floated outward.

As it turned out, Fink wasn't the only one bringing Venomous get well presents: Lord Boxman had dropped by practically every single day to bring him an assortment of gifts such as boxes of candy, flowers, get well balloons, and even a handmade sweater for him to wear due to how cold it was in the hospital. Abby and Fink struggled to enter the room as they had to comb their way through the forest of balloons until they came upon the bed Venomous laid in.

He laid there watching the tv, which luckily wasn't blocked by all the balloons, and absentmindedly eating from one of the boxes of gourmet chocolates Boxman brought him the day before; he looked to his side and spotted Abby and Fink standing by his bedside. "Morning, Boss. How ya feeling today?", asked Fink. Venomous smiled and patted her on the head, "Much better than I was a few days ago. What have you got there? Another card? I don't think there's enough room for it on either of the bedside tables", he said.

He was referring to how both bedside tables had piles of get well cards that were brought by Lord Boxman, the piles were almost teetering off the edge of the tables as if they were about to fall off; Fink walked over to one of the tables and gently placed her card at the top of the pile so as to not to knock it over.

"Professor Venomous, I'd like to know if you got a good look at the guy who attacked you the other day. Me and the crew over at the Plaza were gonna investigate the situation and catch the villain responsible, we know you're a villain too but that doesn't mean you deserved to have your body almost ripped to pieces", said Abby.

Venomous smiled at her, "While I appreciate the kind gesture and the fact that you've taken such good care of Fink for me, Abby, I unfortunately can't tell what the guy looked like and that's only because he wore a gas mask over his, concealing himself. I can tell you that before he had me attacked, he stole all my research notes on glorbs, so he's probably a bioengineer like me", he said. Abby paced the floor pondering the information she was given, "Anything else you can tell me?", she asked.

"Yes, the creatures he commanded to attack me weren't any animals I've ever seen. In fact, it's almost like they were...otherworldly, and I don't mean that in the same way that your friend Radicles is otherworldly because he's a literal alien, I mean it's like they crawled out from the bowels of the underworld. If you give a pen and some paper, I can draw you a picture of what they looked like", said Venomous. Abby pulled a black pen from inside her purse while Fink asked a passing nurse for a sheet of paper.

After giving the pen and paper to Venomous, he began drawing a picture of the creatures; when he was finished, he showed it to Abby and Fink, causing both girls to gasp. "That's the same monster that tried to eat me the other night! The one Abby saved me from!", said Fink. Abby took the picture and looked at it closely, almost as if it might've disappeared if she didn't get a good look at it.

Suddenly, Abby grabbed her head as she started to feel a searing pain run through her cranium. "Abby, what's wrong?", asked Venomous. "You okay, Abby?", asked Fink. Abby didn't respond, rather she continued to clutch her head as the pain intensified until suddenly she collapsed onto the floor unconscious. "Abby? Abby! Fink, go find a doctor or a nurse and get them over here pronto!", said Venomous. Fink nodded as she ran out of the room as fast as possible.

Despite the pain he still felt from his injuries, Venomous slowly climbed out of his hospital bed and carefully lowered himself onto the floor, gently placing Abby's head on his lap.

_~Dream Sequence~_

_Abby found herself locked inside of a glass cage, shivering in fear and cold; she looked around to see other beings were locked in similar containment units but they weren't people, they were those black furred red eyed monsters. They were all snarling, growling and trying desperately to escape their confinement but they couldn't break through the glass._

_Suddenly, three shadowy shapes approached the cage Abby was in, opening the door and pulling her out roughly by the arm; they forced onto a gurney where they restrained her by her arms and legs, and wheeled her away towards another room. On the way, she saw other glass cages but these had frightened children within them rather than more monsters._

_The children looked malnourished, bruised and terrified as they pounded on the glass with their tiny hands, desperately screaming for help that would never come. Abby then saw that the room she was wheeled into was a laboratory, "No! Please...let me go!", she pleaded_.

_It was then that she realized something was wrong: when she cried out, not only did her voice sound high pitched and squeaky, indicating she was much much younger than she was, by her voice sounded like that of a six year old boy._

_One of the shadowy shapes moved closest to her, holding a syringe. "Stop your squirming, Arthur. What I do, I do to benefit the people of this world. You're much too young to understand but yours is a necessary sacrifice to aid in the next step of our evolution. Now hold still, this will only hurt for a moment", said the dark figure as they plunged the syringe into her arm._

_Abby let out a boyish scream of pain before she suddenly felt sick and dizzy, the room spun and she felt as though she would vomit; just before her eyes shut, she saw one of the shadowy shapes carrying a glass jar with a much smaller monster inside of it. _

_This one was more bat like, with pointed ears and leathery wings protruding from its back; the figure holding the jar slowly approached Abby but she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer and finally lost consciousness._

_~End of Dream Sequence~_

Abby's eyes suddenly snapped open as she woke up, she looked around to see she was in a hospital room; she felt the mattress move beneath her on her left side, she looked down to see Fink lying next to her fast asleep. Abby shook her awake, when Fink opened her eyes and looked behind her, she saw Abby and smiled. "Abby! You're awake! I was so worried about you!", said the little mouse as she threw her arms around Abby's neck, hugging her.

"Wha...what happened?", asked Abby. "You were looking at the picture of those monsters that Boss drew and then you just passed out. You feeling okay?", said Fink. Abby didn't want to tell her about the weird images she saw in her head while unconscious, for she wasn't even sure what they were, so instead she made up an excuse. "Oh I...I had a really light breakfast this morning, so I guess I passed out because of low blood sugar. It's okay Fink, after the doctors look me over and we leave, we'll go get some lunch", she said.

Abby didn't want to lie to Fink, but she wasn't even sure what happened so she probably couldn't explain it in a way that Fink would be able to understand. A doctor came in a minute later to look Abby over and after determining that she wasn't hurt or in any pain, he let her and Fink leave. On the way out, they said goodbye to Professor Venomous and walked outside, they got Abby's bike and rode back to the Plaza.

Now Abby's lie wasn't entirely untrue, she was indeed hungry so she stopped at a hotdog stand and bought a one, "Say Fink, you want one?", she asked. Fink nodded as Abby handed her a hotdog and a juice box, she reached into her purse to get her money. You know maybe I should get K.O. and T.K.O some hotdogs too, she thought. Abby bought two more hotdogs and placed them into the basket, before getting onto the bike and rode on.

The two finally came back to Gar's bodega and walked inside, where they were greeted by the others. "So what happened? Did you get any info about the attack from Venomous?", asked Enid. "Well he couldn't see his attacker's face because they were wearing a gas mask but Venomous did draw a picture of the creatures that attacked him", said Abby as she pulled out the folded picture, unfolded it and showed it to her friends.

Rad cringed in disgust, "Ugh...they look like they crawled out of Dante's Inferno", he said. "These don't look like any animal I've ever seen before. I'm gonna show this to Mr. Gar, maybe he'll know what this is", said Enid as she took the picture to Mr. Gar. Meanwhile, Abby reached into basket of her bike and pulled out the two hotdogs. "Here K.O., I figured you and T.K.O. were hungry so I bought you guys hotdogs on the way back here", she said.

The boys thanked her as they took their snacks, Abby smiled at them but then sat quietly; she intentionally left out the part about her passing out and the weird dream she had, and she supposed Fink didn't mention it because she didn't want to make Abby feel awkward. K.O. soon noticed the still silence and it was becoming too awkward for his liking, "Hey guys, wanna see some videos I found", he said. "What vidoes?", asked Abby. "Oh yeah, K.O. and I found this fox kid's video channel, its hilarious. You guys gotta see it", said T.K.O.

K.O. took out his cellphone and opened up the channel online, the profile picture was of a young anthropomorphic fox boy with short dark red hair, light green eyes and was wearing a red hoodie and navy shorts. Abby suddenly blushed and had a sheepish smile on her face, "What's with the weird face, Abby?", asked Fink. Abby rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "Uh guys...that's my channel", she said.

K.O. gasped, "Oh is this what you used to look like? You know, when you used to be Arthur?", he asked. Abby nodded which prompted T.K.O. and Fink to look at her in confusion, "What does he mean?", asked T.K.O. "Well you see, I'm transgender. I made those videos back when I used to a boy, which was from age 7-10, but when I turned eleven, I felt that I was really girl stuck in a boy's body and so I changed. The last video I made on that channel was an update of my transition from Arthur to Abigail, I haven't updated my channel in a while", said Abby.

T.K.O. and Fink were amazed by this information but K.O. merely shrugged as he had already known that, "So...you guys found my old channel. What do you think of my videos?", asked Abby. "Oh they're really funny. This one is my favorite", said K.O. He scrolled down and clicked on a video titled "Jellybean Rain Prank", the video involved Abby, back then known as Arthur, tying a large pillow with a hole in it to a high tree branch.

Below him, an old man sat on a park bench unaware of his presence; using selfie-stick to film himself, Arthur took a bag of jellybeans out and opened it, dumping the contents through the hole in the pillow. The old man was freaked out by the jellybeans hitting him and when he looked he up, he ran off saying _"Candy is falling from the sky! It's a sign of the apocalypse!"_.

K.O., T.K.O and Fink burst out laughing while Abby had a small smirk on her face while she let out a few giggles. "That was awesome! Where'd you come up with that?", asked T.K.O. "I saw it on a cartoon once and wanted to try it, my brother however made me pick up all the jellybeans and apologize to the old man when he saw the video. He said it wouldn't be fair to the man or the sanitation workers if I didnt", said Abby.

"Hey what's this video?", asked Fink as she clicked on a link. The video was titled "Berry Bites Baking Tutorial", it was a video where Arthur seemed to be baking something in kitchen. "Oh that's a tutorial I made for my homemade Berry Bites, they're a treat I made up myself. You take berries, any kind you want, and simmer them in a pot until it turns into a puree; then you put in little dumpling shaped pieces of bread dough and bake them for 10-15 minutes at 345°F and when they're cooked off, you spread vanilla icing on them", said Abby.

She looked down and chuckled as she saw K.O., T.K.O and Fink looking at her with wide eyes and were practically drooling from her description of her homemade treats. "You've gotta make us those sometime, please!", pleaded Fink. Abby smiled as sat in between the kids, "Sure thing, I'll bet you'll love as much as Desmond does. Come on, I wanna show you another video", she said as she took K.O.'s cellphone and scrolled down.

Meanwhile in a dark undisclosed location, our three young heroes and the young minion weren't the only ones looking at the videos; a mysterious person sitting a desk with the back of their revolving chair to the door, they scrolled through Abby's former video channel until they came upon her gender transition update video.

"Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been in the hospital recovering from surgery and I feeling sick for a while but I'm here to give you this update video. As you can see, I've changed my look to something girly; you see, I've come to terms with my identity as a girl and so I've changed. But I'm still the same fun loving fox as always so expect a new video to come out soon. Bye guys, bye!", said Abby in the video.

The mysterious person gripped the phone in anger, "I will make you pay for defying me! I will prove to the world that my theory is true and I will be hailed as a great hero for revolutionizing our lives", he seethed. Just then, someone entered the room, "What is it? I thought I told you I wanted to be left alone!", he shouted. This new person shook with fear, "Uh...sir, I don't me to disturb you but...Experiment #369 has escaped", they said. The mysterious figure growled in frustration, "Send out the hounds to retrieve it! I don't want anyone in the outside world to know of my plans...at least not yet", he said.

Just before the other person left, the mysterious man at the desk stopped them for a moment. "Also, send out the scouts to the town of Lakewood to collect more test subjects", he said.

Back in Lakewood, it was the middle of the night as a crescent moon hovered in the sky with a few clouds passing in front of it. Everyone was safe and sound in their homes, sleeping peacefully in their beds.

Abby felt a tiny hand nudge her awake, she sat up and looked at Fink with half closed eyes. "What is it, Fink?", she asked in a sleepy slurred voice. "I want a glass of milk but...", Fink trailed off as she was too ashamed to admit she was afraid of the dark. Abby understood as she climbed out bed and carried Fink over to the kitchen where she poured her a glass of warm milk; Fink cranked it and let Abby take her back to the room where she was able to fall asleep.

_~Dream Sequence~_

_Abby opened her eyes to see she was lying on an operating table, her arms and legs were tied down and there was an oxygen mask strapped over her snout. She felt woozy and delirious as she looked around to see shadowy shapes standing over her, they seemed to be performing open heart surgery on her._

_"How are the subjects vitals?", asked one of the figures._

_"Heartrate is normal, blood pressure is stable. His chest cavity is open and receptive, prepared for the fusion"._

_Abby looked to see one of the figures came closer holding a jar with the black bat winged creature inside of it, she could see now that it had shaggy purple hair dropped down over its face, an eye on its chest and four more eyes on its wings._

_The creature looked as scared as Abby felt as the figures removed it from the jar, its body flopped in their hands as if it was paralyzed thus keeping it from escaping; the figures moved closer to Abby's exposed heart and began to surgically attach the creature's tail to it._

_When they were finally done, Abby suddenly shot up and screamed as her body was overtaken by a rush of overwhelming energy._

_~End of Dream Sequence~_

Abby shot awake and looked around her darkened room dimly lit by moonlight, she sighed in relief knowing what she saw was only a dream. She looked down to see Fink curled up next to her, clutching the teddy bear she was going to give to Venomous but he told her to hold onto it as it might help her sleep without him around. Abby calmed her breathing before lying back down, pondering what the images in her dream meant before she slowly dozed off again.

Meanwhile in another part of town, a young boy by the name of Combo Breaker was sleeping peacefully in his bed until he heard a strange noise outside his bedroom window; he looked out to see a dark figure standing in his front yard, even though he should've told his parents about the stranger, he decided to investigate this himself.

Combo Breaker quietly exited his house and approached the stranger, "Um excuse me, sir...what are you doing in my front yard?", he asked. The figure said nothing but rather they placed a gas mask over their face and pulled out a spray can. The figure sprayed a light purple mist in Combo Breaker's face, causing his eyes to droop before he lost consciousness, allowing the figure to pick him up and place him in the back of a black minivan.

At another house, a little impish girl named Nanini was awoken by a strange noise coming from her backyard; she climbed out of bed and grabbed a flashlight, going outside to see what it was. She too came across a mysterious figure who sprayed her with the same mist before carrying away her unconscious body into the woods.

Over at the Kincaid house, K.O. was woken up by the same strange noise but he simply ignored it and covered his ears with his pillow; T.K.O. hadn't heard the noise because as he slept, he had a pair of headphones on his head playing rock music, it wasn't loud enough to damage his hearing but loud enough to block out any outside noise. The figure stood outside puzzled until another approached them, "Forget it! We've got enough, remember the Doctor said not to take too many so as not to arouse suspicion", they said as the two walked away.

The next morning, Abby biked over to the bodega with Fink riding in the basket; she placed the little mouse girl in the breakroom so she could color and not have to do any work. When Abby walked back out, she almost bumped into Rad. "Oh sorry, Rad. Didn't see you there", she said. "Oh hey Abby, did you hear what happened?", he asked. When Abby asked what he meant, he took her outside where K.O., T.K.O and Enid were already there looking at the wall on the side of the bodega.

There were several missing posters hanging on the wall depicting the pictures of a couple of children including Combo Breaker, Nanini, Genesis, and Gnarlio Jr. "Its weird, they just...disappeared in the middle of the night. There was no trace of them anywhere", said Enid. Just then, they heard a rustling sound from the bushes nearby; they all turned and took up battle stances, but the noise was revealed to be a young teenaged anthropomorphic wolf boy.

He ran out into the open before collapsing onto the ground, he wore a rather dirty looking white tank top and sweatpants with one of the legs missing and a few dozen holes; he had a few cuts and bruises on his arms and his exposed leg, dark bags under his eyes and tear in his left ear. The group ran over to him, "Whoa dude, are you doing okay? What happened to you?", asked Rad.

The wolf looked up at them with terror filled eyes, "Please...please help me! I can't let them catch me! I don't wanna go back!", he shouted as he started crying. Before the others could ask him what he was talking about, the sound of growling caught their attention; they turned to see a group of those black furred red eyed monsters, about ten to twenty of them, slowly emerging from the bushes. The wolf boy screamed as he sprang up and grabbed Enid by her leg, "NO! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!", he cried out.

"Listen kid, go inside the bodega and hide. We'll take care of these little gremlins", said Enid. The wolf boy ran inside the bodega as the group of heroes turned to face the monsters; the creatures lunged at them with their mouths wide open exposing their razor sharp teeth.

Enid kicked one in the face, Rad used his finger beam to grab two and swing them around ramming them into a couple more, K.O. and T.K.O fired a few power fists at their faces and Abby slashed at them with her fire feet. But as hard as they were fighting, they soon noticed that there were too many and they were quickly getting tired.

"I feel...tapped out", said T.K.O as he huffed and puffed. "I...know, these guys are way...tougher than Boxmore robots", K.O. gasped. Just then, one of the monsters jumped forward and snapped its jaws down Rad's left arm; he screamed in pain as he tried to beat it off him. Enid tried to help him out, but a larger creature pinned her to the ground and bit into her right leg.

One snapped its teeth onto Abby's tail but since the base of her tail was where the appendage actually was, it didn't hurt her and she was able to swing her tail back and forth, bashing it into the ground. Abby looked to the side and grasped in horror at what she saw: Enid and Rad were being munched on while trying to fend off the creatures, and T.K.O. tried to hold back one that was trying to bite his face off while protecting K.O. who had fallen to the ground after another bit his ankle.

Her friends were in danger but even with her fire abilities, Abby wasn't strong enough to fend all the monsters off; she had been able to kill the one that had tried to attack Fink, but that was only one of them. This was twenty something and they all seemed much bigger and stronger than that last one.

_**You can overpower these miserable soulless drones, but only if you take my power! Surrender control to me and I will in turn grant you strength!**_

Abby heard the voice in her head speak again, telling her to give it control in order to strengthen her; she was still scared and apprehensive of this voice, but at the moment her friends were in danger and she had no other options. "Okay, I'll do it. To save my friends, what do I have to do?", she asked whispering to the voice.

_**Think about these monsters, how they hurt you, how they hurt your friends, how they try to hurt Fink and how they've more than likely hurt that boy hiding inside the bodega. Think about how angry they make you knowing they're harming**__**the innocent, including children!**_

_**Feel that anger grow, like a raging forest fire, feel it expand and consume everything in its wake. Let it take hold of you so that you can lay down a fiery destruction upon these monsters! RELEASE YOUR INNER DEMON!**_

Abby growled as she felt her anger build up like a massive tidal wave being held back by a dam but much like a damaged dam, she felt cracks begin to form in her resolve; her self restraint was diminishing and an enormous pool of dark energy bubbled to the surface like hot magma.

K.O. and the others looked to see Abby down on her knees, a familiar glowing purple aura of energy flowing around her body; suddenly she ripped off her hoodie as her body began to change. A spot of black fur formed in her chest area beneath her shirt before it quickly began spreading to the rest of her body: the black fur on her hands and feet changed to white, her tail became elongated and her hair went from dark red to deep purple.

Her eyes turned completely red all except for her pupils which were black and more serpentine, the claws on her hands and feet grew longer and sharper, and much like the monsters, her mouth had stretched wider until the corners were up on the edge of her face. K.O. and the others looked at Abby's new transformation with shock and uncertainty, even the creatures seemed to be frightened by this turn of events.

"Abby...is that you?", K.O. called out. When Abby looked at him with her piercing red eyes, K.O. shrank away out of fear and hid behind T.K.O. who was trying not to notice that his knees were trembling due to his fear. Abby looked at her friends and smiled an almost evil and demented smile.

_**"There is no Abby, there is only...**__**PLAGUE!**__**"**_

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 5, and as I'm at the halfway point, I realize this story isn't long enough to stretch into twenty chapters like I wanted, so I'm gonna have to condense down to only ten. Anyway, come back next time for Chapter 6; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	6. Chapter 6

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 6: A Burnt Marshmallow

K.O. and his friends were frozen in shock and fear as they saw the creature who was formally their friend Abby hovering in the air above them, an aura of purple energy flowing around her body. She slowly descended to the ground and stared at the black furred red eyed monsters, some of which shrunk away in fear while others slowly stalked forward while growling menacingly.

The newly transformed Abby simply stared at them, as if she didn't care for them or noticed their presence; one of the monsters suddenly felt bold enough to lunge in for an attack but it wasn't trying to attack Abby but rather it went for K.O. and T.K.O, who were both too tired and injured to defend themselves. They both clung to each other as they shut their eyes, but nothing happened; when they opened their eyes, they saw that Abby had grabbed it by the head.

"_**These children are not your dinner!**_", she snarled before she clenched her hand, squeezing the monster's head until it exploded from the pressure. It practically popped like a balloon, splattering a viscous yellowish substance on the ground which was more than likely its blood; some of it had even landed on K.O. and T.K.O, making them revile in horror and disgust as they had come to the conclusion that they were just sprayed with blood.

Abby tossed the headless body to the side, casually flicking its yellow blood from her hand like it was nothing; she then turned around and smirked at the rest of the monsters, who were now all afraid and slowly backing away. Abby stood with one hand on her hips and the other lifted up, wagging her index finger back and forth. "**_I don't think so...if I just let you go, you'll be free to terrorize more innocent people and I can't let that happen. So..._**"

She trailed off as she sprinted forward, slashing her claws at four of them, swiftly slitting their throats; this prompted the others to grow spines and move in for an attack, but Abby was able to fend them off. When one lunged for her throat, she twisted around and grabbed it by the throat with her teeth and ripped its throat out. She then spun around and swiftly decapitated another that tried to surprise her from behind.

Abby grabbed another by the neck with her now long and prehensile tail, and swung it around, knocking the others over before bashing its head into the floor; while doing this, her guard was down and one of the monsters slashed its claws across her face, cutting it. Abby slowly turned her face to it, growling angrily; the cuts on her face closing up as they healed themselves.

She then swiped her own claws and tore its lower jaw off, then she grabbed it by the throat with her teeth and, in one swift motion, snapped its neck. The others watched this fight...no, this massacre in utter horror as they were frightened by this new version of their friend; they didn't want to admit it, but the sweet and friendly fox girl they knew had turned into a monster herself but somehow she was twice as scary as the black creatures she systematically slaughtered.

By this time, almost all of the monsters were dead and lying on the ground in pools of yellow liquid, all except for one that had bitten Abby's tail. This temporarily distracted her so it could jump onto her back and pin her down to the ground; with Abby was immobilized, it reached over and sank its teeth into the back of her neck, biting down. Abby screamed out in pain before she swung her tail around, grabbed it by the neck and flung it into the air.

She then stood up, inhaled deeply and launched a ball of fire from her mouth; it flew at the final monster, instantly incinerating it. Abby breathed heavily as the teeth marks on the back of her neck closed up and healed, she looked around as the corpses of the monsters all dissolved into black smoke but this time, these small glowing orbs emerged from their bodies as they faded away.

K.O. gasped when he saw this, "That's why they were so hard to beat, they all had glorbs inside them. The glorbs must've made them stronger", he said. Abby suddenly turned her head sharply to look at him after he had spoken, causing K.O. to flinch in fear. He tried to crawl away as she slowly approached him, he hated how afraid he was of his friend but he couldn't help it.

If this creature standing before him was supposedly Abby's own turbonic form, she scared him far more than T.K.O. ever did. Speaking of his former dark side, he too was backing away out of fear; T.K.O. didn't want to admit it to himself, especially considering he liked to act like a tough guy, but he was trembling in terror. Abby stopped just in front of K.O. and stared in curiosity as she noticed that the pink legwarmer on his right leg was stained red.

She smiled as she gently picked him and held him in her arms as if he were a baby, she carefully removed the legwarmer as K.O. flinched when it touched his ankle; once it was removed, Abby could see why he was flinching: when one of the creatures attacked him, it bit into his ankle, leaving several large teeth marks in his ankle. "_**You weren't hurt that badly, little one. This is an easy fix**_", she said in a deep, demonic and almost masculine voice.

K.O. suddenly stopped quivering in fear, the voice she spoke to him with had a comforting gentleness to it, like a parent speaking to their child; it surprised him that despite how scary she looked, it was still Abby under that menacing appearance. She then surprised him again when she bit into the palm of her white hand, staining it with the blood she just drew; Abby then gently wrapped her bloodied hand around K.O.'s ankle, her blood slowly seeping into his wound.

K.O. shuddered as he felt the blood ooze it's way into his body before his cuts slowly closed up and the streaks of his own blood had vanished; he then felt quite tired all of a sudden, even more so than he already was, and slowly shut his eyes, drifting off to sleep. Using her long tail like an extra arm, Abby twisted it into a loop and cradled K.O., now allowing her to use her hands to look T.K.O. over.

As it turned out, he had several cuts on his face but hadn't noticed them in the midst of the fight; Abby used her teeth to aggravate her hand wound, causing it to bleed again. Then she used her left index finger as a paintbrush, dipping it into her bleeding cuts and gently traced her finger over the cuts on T.K.O.'s face; each one absorbed Abby's blood and slowly closed up, healing and leaving no scars behind.

T.K.O. then felt his eyelids beginning to droop as he too felt more exhausted than he already was, he fell forward but Abby caught him in her arms and held him as she stood up and walked over to Rad and Enid. "What did you do to them?", asked Enid. "_**You needn't fear for your friends, they are alright. They've merely fallen asleep as a result of my healing blood, it can be used to heal you as well**_", said Abby.

Shifting T.K.O. to her left arm, Abby leaned down and pressed her bloodied palm on Enid's leg wound, healing it; she then moved over to Rad and did the same for his arm. After being healed, the duo stood up as they quickly realized how strong and energized they suddenly felt. "_**For you, my blood restores strength and stamina. I'm sure you can feel it**_", said Abby.

"Yeah, I feel way stronger! Like I can bench press a tank!", said Rad as he flexed his biceps. "And I feel like if I just lightly tapped the side of a building with my foot, I'd kick the whole thing down! How'd you do that, Abby?", said Enid as flexed her leg muscles. "_**No, not Abby. Plague. Dear Abigail is within her mind resting as she too is quite exhausted but she's happy to know you're alright. Take these little ones inside, I shall join you shortly**_", Abby or rather Plague said.

Rad and Enid, though confused, complied as they gently picked up K.O. and T.K.O., and carried them into the bodega; Plague then turned to see that the glorbs were still hovering in place from where they exited from the monsters' bodies, which by now had completely disappeared into smoke. Plague pulled a plastic bag out from the back pocket of Abby's shorts and plucked each glorb one by one, placing them in the bag and tied it closed.

Plague then walked into the bodega, heading over to the breakroom where Rad and Enid had laid K.O. and T.K.O on the couch, draping a blanket over them as they continued to sleep; the wolf boy who was chased into the Plaza by the monsters earlier was sitting on a bean bag with a blanket draped over his shoulders. Fink walked over to him, handing him a cup of hot chocolate.

"Ya feeling any better, bub?", she asked him. The wolf boy took a sip of the hot beverage and sighed, "Y-y-yeah, I'm...I'm okay", he said. He and Fink looked up to see Plague but for some reason, neither of them were afraid; Plague couldn't understand why the wolf boy was calm but he could only assume Fink wasn't afraid because it was still Abby's body she was looking at despite him currently being in control of it.

"We explained to Fink who you were".

Plague turned around and looked at Rad and Enid, who entered the breakroom; Plague nodded and smiled before he walked over to the couch and sat in front of it, reaching his hand over to gently stroke K.O.'s hair. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you exactly?", asked Fink. Plague inhaled deeply and exhaled, "_**I don't know...I feel like I know what I am but something is blocking my memories. Its almost as if there's a barrier around the part of my mind where my memories are**_", he said.

Enid sat beside him, "What about Abby's memories? Maybe they'll have the answers", she said. "_**Not likely, she can't find anything either**_", said Plague. Rad gave him a weird look, "Wait...Abby can still hear us? I thought you were to her what T.K.O. was to K.O., a turbonic form that lives inside her mind", he said. Plague sighed, "_**No actually. I am not a physical manifestation of Abigail's dark side, I am a literal separate living being dwelling within her body. We have separate minds, bodies and even personalities, the only thing we do share is a heart.**_

_**"Well to be more specific, our hearts are connected to one another and they work simultaneously to keep the both of us alive, if one of stops beating then the other will stop beating. As for hearing you, yes Abigail can hear and see all of you quite clearly; she even wanted me to inform you that she's alright, she's just tired and needs to rest. During the fight, she channeled my power to make herself stronger and I gained control as a result.**_

_**"This is actually the first time I've done this as well, and to be honest even I'm surprised because I wasn't sure whether or not it would or if Abigail would even know how to do what I told her to do**_", he said. "What did you tell her to do anyway?", asked Fink. Plague shifted his sitting position so that he could stretch his tail over to stroke T.K.O.'s hair as well.

"_**I told her to give in to her anger, the anger she felt watching those creatures attack all of you. To my surprise, she was furious! Enid and Rad, I hope you don't feel offended by this but despite you being her first real friends, you were only a small fraction of her anger**_", he said. "Its okay dude, we're not mad", said Rad. "But if that's the case, what was the main source of her anger if not us?", asked Enid.

A tiny whimper caught Plague's attention, he looked down to see K.O. shivering as the blanket had slipped off of his upper body, leaving him cold and exposed; Plague used his tail to lift the blanket back up to his chin, tucking it around him, he then leaned down and gave K.O. a tiny lick on the cheek with his now serpentine tongue. K.O. gave a small smile as he snuggled into the blanket, sleeping as peacefully as a baby.

"O-o-oh I get it, it's the kids. Was...was Abby mad because those kids were getting hurt?", asked the wolf boy. Plague didn't look at him as he was looking down at K.O. and T.K.O with a smile that only a parent would have for their child, but his ear twitched meaning he did hear him. "_**Yes. Abigail has a soft spot in her heart for young children, which is why she gets along so well with these boys and Fink. For some reason, she feels an instinctive need to care for and protect young children, almost as if during her childhood, she never knew the feeling of being protected.**_

_**"I too have this instinctive feeling as well, but it stems more from experience. As if I was around young children at some point but I can't remember when and where. Anyway, when Abby felt that anger she was able to channel my power into her, becoming this new form. But she then wore herself out, so she gave me the reigns to keep fighting**_", said Plague.

Fink then sat in Plague's lap, curling up and getting comfortable; Plague smiled as he turned around and started to gently run his hands through her green hair, carefully pulling out the tangles and twisting it into little curls with his claws. Fink smiled as she closed her, making a small noise that was similar to a cat purring. "You know, I don't know why we were so scared of you before, Plague. You seem like an okay guy", said Enid.

"Yeah, I mean you look pretty creepy, not gonna lie but inside you're a pretty chill dude. You're like a burnt marshmallow", said Rad. Plague looked at him with a questioning expression, "_**I don't understand the analogy**_", he said. "No, I mean like you're tough on the outside, like the crispy outer shell of a burnt marshmallow but on the inside you're soft like the squishy inner layer of a burnt marshmallow", Rad explained.

Plague then held an awkward expression, "_**All...right then, if that's the metaphor you wish to go with, doesn't make much sense though. I'd rather compare myself to a mother polar bear, a fearsome predator that'll destroy anything that threatened her young, and then afterwards she cuddles with her cub in an ice cave as a blizzard rages outside, keeping it warm**_", he said.

Rad and Enid looked at him with awkward smiles as what he said creeped them out, he said it in a way that suggested he was perfectly okay with murdering someone if it meant he was protecting innocent children from danger. Plague saw their expressions and looked away in sadness, "_**You two think I'm a monster, don't you?**_", he said as his voice cracked sounding as if he might start crying.

Rad and Enid shook their heads and tried to excuse themselves but Plague sighed sadly, "_**Its alright, I understand...**_", he trailed off as he started crying. He held his hands to faces, sobbing into them. Rad and Enid suddenly felt very guilty, they hadn't meant to hurt his feelings but they couldn't help the way they felt about the manner of which he had spoke in.

Fink twisted around and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. "Hey don't cry, who cares what those two Lakewood losers think? I don't think you're scary. In fact, I think you look really cool", she said with a smile. Plague smiled back as he wiped his eyes and patted Fink on the head, "_**Well, those two "Lakewood losers" are Abigail's friends and, by extension, mine as well. So I'm still going to be put off by what they think about me, but I suppose I shouldn't let it get to me too much**_", he said.

"We're sorry if we hurt your feelings, Plague. We didn't mean to make you feel bad, we just can't help but be just the tiniest bit afraid of you", said Enid. "Yeah dude, like I said, you do look pretty freaky. But that's no excuse and we should've known better, we're really sorry", said Rad.

Plague smiled widely at them, "_**Its alright, I forgive you two. I can see how you felt and even I have to admit that I'm not a friendly looking fellow, but I can assure you that I won't hurt any of you. And if Abigail was able to talk directly to you right now, she'd tell you that you can trust me because she trusts me**_", he said. Rad and Enid smiled back as they were happy to know their newest friend didn't hold any resentment towards them for their hurtful reactions.

The sound of yawning caught their attention and they all looked to see K.O. and T.K.O stretching and rubbing their eyes as they woke up. "_**Did you have a nice rest, little ones?**_", asked Plague. K.O. looked up at him with a cute smile, "Yeah, that was the best nap ever. I feel really great!", he said. "Me too, but I also feel really hungry", said T.K.O. as he rubbed his loudly growling stomach. K.O. then heard his own stomach growling as he quickly realized just how hungry he was as well.

"Oh, I'll go get you guys some lightning nachos, wait right there. Hey, what about you, dude? You want some lightning nachos?", said Rad. The wolf boy looked up as he realized Rad had been speaking to him, and that's when his stomach let out an almost thunderous growl. "Y-y-yeah...I'd like some food, p-p-please", he stammered. As Rad left the breakroom, Enid went to sit by the young wolf boy. "Hey do you think you can tell us where you came from or why those monsters were chasing you?", she asked.

The boy merely whimpered and looked away, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders as if he was trying to hide within it and vanish; Enid could understand that he didn't want to talk anymore so she didn't push it. Rad soon came into the room holding three baskets of lightning nachos and three soda bottles in his finger beam; he handed the food and drinks to the three boys, who ate their food with much gusto.

The wolf boy practically inhaled the basket of lightning nachos and soda as he had barely took any pauses between eating and drinking, "Whoa slow down, dude! If you keep eating that fast, you'll choke!", said Rad. The wolf boy ignored him and scarfed down the rest of the nachos, washing it down with the rest of the soda; he then burped into his fist before lying back onto the beanbag, a look of satisfaction on his face.

"My Cob, you sure were hungry weren't you? I mean, when's the last time you had something to eat?", asked Enid. The boy looked at her, "I can't remember the last time I had something so tasty and it feels like forever since I've eaten anything decent", he said.

"Hey, where is everybody?"

They all heard the sound of Carol calling out for them from outside; K.O. and T.K.O ran out of the breakroom to greet their mother as she bent down to hug her boys. "What are you doing here, Mommy?", asked K.O. "Mr. Gar told me about what happened earlier, when those monsters attacked the Plaza. I was worried about you", she said in concern as she held them close.

"Well we're alright now, Mommy", said K.O. "Yeah we were hurt earlier but Abby's friends took care of us", said T.K.O. Just before Carol could ask, Plague stepped out of the breakroom to greet her; Carol was startled by the appearance of this demonic looking creature, "Who are you?!", she asked as she held up her fists. "_**Don't be afraid of me, I mean no harm. I am Plague, I dwell within Abigail's body as we share hearts, and I helped her fight off those monsters**_", he said.

Plague then looked upward as if he was staring at the ceiling, "What's up, Plague?", asked Rad. "_**It seems Abigail has had enough time to rest, so she wants to come back out. I'll see you all later then**_", he said. His body began glowing as the black and white coloring receded back into Abby's body, revealing Abby herself; she blinked a couple of times to let her eyes adjust to the sudden bright lights.

She looked around and smiled at everyone, "Hi everybody, sorry if I worried you. I was...just really exhausted, and I needed some quiet time", she said. Even though they had already gotten used to Plague and saw that he was a good guy, they couldn't help but miss Abby's cute and bubbly personality. Abby bent down to give K.O. and T.K.O a hug as she had also missed being able to hug her best friends.

Just then, they all heard a gasp from behind them; the group turned around to see a young anthropomorphic fox man sitting in a wheelchair carrying a few bags of supplies. Abby smiled at him, "Hey there, big brother. Oh everybody, this is my older brother Desmond and Desmond, these are all my friends. So what are you doing here? Picking up more supplies for your next project?", she said.

Instead of answering her, Desmond merely dropped the bags of supplies he was carrying and placed his head in his hands; Abby looked at her brother in concern, she walked over to him and bent down to his level. "Desmond, what's wrong? Why do you look so scared and guilty all of sudden?", she asked. Desmond looked at her, "I saw it, I saw him go back into your body", he said.

"Well yeah, that was Plague. He's a being that lives within me, apparently we share hearts. He gave me some of his powers and I used it to take out a bunch of monsters that attacked the Plaza, but I can understand why you might be uneasy about that. It was pretty scary and dangerous, but we managed", said Abby.

Desmond shook his head, "No..no...you found out about him! You weren't supposed to know!", he said before covering his mouth. Abby looked at him with a questioning expression, "Wha...what are you talking about? What do you mean I shouldn't have known?", she asked.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 6, and not only have we been introduced to a new character but it seems that Desmond has let a piece of information slip that Abby wasn't supposed to know. What does this all mean? Find out next time in Chapter 7; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	7. Chapter 7

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 7: The Truth Comes Out

Everyone was gathered together inside the bodega so Desmond could explain himself, Mr. Gar had changed the 'open' sign to 'closed' so they would had some privacy but just as he was about to shut the doors, Dendy had came. You see, two days ago K.O. had contacted her because they didn't know anyone else who would have any information about the creatures that attacked the Plaza.

Turns out, she did find the information they were looking for but only came now because she had pulled two all-nighters while searching for the information and she needed to rest. Mr. Gar let her inside and shut the doors, giving them the privacy they needed to have this conversation.

"After two days and nights of combing through every book and website I could find about rare and obscure creatures, I've finally figured out what those creatures were", said Dendy. "Well, tell us. What were they, Dendy?", asked K.O. Dendy opened up her holo-computer, "They were Shadow Demons. According to the rather limited information provided by this news article I found, they're a rare type of creature that dwell in deep underground caverns and have very little interaction with surface dwelling beings.

"They're described as having either black fur or skin, red eyes and oddly shaped bodies; despite having sharp teeth and claws, their diet mostly consists of plant life and insects. It says they're generally docile and quite intelligent as they understand the concepts of comrodery, family and friendship, some of which can even speak.

"They don't leave their cave home for fear of being judged as dangerous monsters by the surface dwellers and hunted down, so they prefer to live underground. But it says here that seven years ago, a man by the name of Dr. Reagan, who was a bioengineer, had discovered their home and had them all captured. He discovered that the Shadow Demons had mysterious powers and were immune to diseases.

"Dr. Reagan theorized that by surgically fusing a Shadow Demon with a person, he could enhance their bodies by giving them the added benefits such as increased strength, speed, intelligence, a stronger immune system, longevity and even more powers. The Society of Scientists were on board with his theory and they were willing to give him the money he needed to conduct his experiments and even found many willing participants, but they soon discovered that not only did he mistreat the Shadow Demons he held captive, he also kidnapped dozen of orphaned children to use as test subjects.

"He even went as far as to kidnap children who actually had families who would miss them. The journalist who wrote this article was working undercover as a janitor for the laboratory, he stated he was hired by a local hero to help get information to expose Dr. Reagan's illegal and unethical experiments. It says on the day he was exposed, the police arrived to the labs to arrest Dr. Reagan but he had somehow moved all the captive Shadow Demons to an undisclosed location before blowing the laboratory up.

"After the fire department had put the fires out, they discovered that all the staff and the hero who knew about it were all killed. The only survivors were two young children and the journalist who published this article on the internet. There's also a footnote here that says Dr. Reagan would implant microchips into the necks of some of the more animalistic Shadow Demons and use a high pitched frequency to control them, that would explain why those creatures attacked the Plaza.

"Dr. Reagan must be in his new lab and he's more than likely still experimenting with them and now he's using glorbs in his experiments which explains why he stole Professor Venomous' notes on them", said Dendy. Everyone took the following moment of silence to take in all this information, "Okay, but now I've got a question: if Plague is one of these demons, why wasn't I supposed to know about him? Huh, Desmond?", asked Abby as she looked towards her brother.

Desmond took a deep breath, "Okay. Firstly, do any of you remember a hero by the name of "Fiery Fennec"? She was a well known solo hero", he said. K.O. immediately started flipping through the binder that held his POW Card collection until he stopped at a certain page and pulled out a card; the POW Card had a picture of an adult anthropomorphic female fox with fiery red and orange hair, green eyes and light orange and white fur. She wore a skintight black jumpsuit, white boots and gloves, and a red neckerchief, and her power level was 23.

"Yeah, she was one of the first cards I put in my collection. They said she had awesome fire based powers, her signature move being her 'Ultra Rainbow Blaze', a giant fireball in a wide range of colors like a rainbow. They said she chose to be a solo hero so her enemies couldn't use her sidekick or partner as leverage against her and she took down tons of bad guys, but she disappeared seven years ago and to this day, nobody knows what happened to her", said K.O.

"That's nice, kiddo. But what does that have to do with anything, Desmond?", asked Abby. Desmond gulped, "Well...Fiery Fennec, real name Cassandra by the way, was...our...mother", he stammered. Abby gasped as she held her hands over her mouth, "W...what...?", she muttered.

Desmond felt like there was a lead weight in his stomach, "Yes. You see, before either of us were born, she was a great solo hero. Then when I was a baby, she met Dr. Reagan; I don't know if they were friends or he was her intell, but she was on board with his experiments before he went all mad scientist. She had you when I was seven years old, I remembered she and I being so excited and happy when you were born but Dr. Reagan had different ideas.

"He found out that Mom's powers had skipped me and went on to you, so it gave him a sick and twisted idea: when I was fourteen and you were seven, he kidnapped us and tried to use us for his experiments. I had managed to get away and warn Mom but we were too late to stop Dr. Reagan from fusing Plague to you.

"This was on the same day that journalist was documenting what was going on and then all Hell broke loose: while I was looking for you, Dr. Reagan had the very few amount of his assistants who were still loyal to him remove the Shadow Demons and take them away while he destroyed the lab and killed the other scientists who defected.

"Mom tried to stop him in order to buy us time to escape, but he tried to kill us too. While I was trying to escape while carrying your unconscious body, he shot me in base of my spine with his laser gun, resulting in me becoming a paraplegic. Mom tried to reason with him but Dr. Reagan had basically snapped and he shot at us again but Mom jumped in front of us and took the shot to the heart, instantly killing her.

"The worst part is...just before she died, you woke up and...you...you saw her die! You started screaming and Dr. Reagan was about to take another shot at us until he heard the sound of police sirens and fire alarms. He dropped the laser gun and ran out, he was long gone by the time the firefighters came in to rescue us and that undercover journalist.

"After that, we were sent to live in a foster home until I turned eighteen; I went to college and got my degree in mechanical engineering, and once I got a job, I was allowed to take care of you myself. Since the incident, I've been moving us around a lot because I'm terrified that Dr. Reagan might come after us one of these days because...apparently you were his first and only successful experiment due to do you not dying an hour or so after being bonded to Plague, every other poor child used as a Guinea pig had died after their fusion operations.

"I thought that living here in Lakewood, a town that's practically populated entirely by heroes would mean we would be safe but if the attacks against the Plaza and Professor Venomous and those missing children's posters are anything to go by, he knows where we are and he's conducting his experiments again. He'll probably come after you knowing you're the only one of his previous test subjects to not only survive the fusion but work in perfect symbiosis with Plague, he'll want to use you to figure out how to do that for other people", he said.

Everyone was in utter shock at what they were told, but none more so than Abby: her eyes were as wide as they could possibly get and her mouth hung open. "B-b-but...if I witnessed all t-t-that, why didn't I remember any of it? Why didn't I remember having Mom's fire powers? I had to be told by Plague in my dreams about them and those other powers I have, like sensing someone's energy or how I was able to pull T.K.O. out of K.O. and give him his own body!

"I've also had a reoccurring nightmare about being locked in a cage and then being taken away to an operating room to have Plague surgically fused to me. If all this happened and I saw it all go down, then why am I only remembering all of this now?!", she shouted at Desmond.

Desmond looked down in shame as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pill bottle, "Why do you have my androgen pills? I already took one today", said Abby. "No Abby...these aren't your androgen medication, this is something else. Something I'm now deeply ashamed of using", he said. Carol walked over and grabbed the pill bottle, looking closely at the label.

"Memory Suppression Pills? Take one by mouth daily to suppress short term memories or take two by mouth daily to suppress long term memories? Warning: may cause nausea, dizziness and headache? What the heck? Desmond, where did you even get these? These pills are illegal because they've been known to leave people with permanent memory loss", she said.

"I ran into a back alley dealer and begged him for a drug that could suppress memories, and he gave me those pills for free simply because he had no use for them nor could he find anyone to buy them, so he just let me have them. I mixed them into Abby's meals everyday in order to suppress those terrible memories so she wouldn't have to endure reliving them over and over again, I already had to deal with that I couldn't let her suffer too", he said.

Desmond then turned to look at Abby who had her head down, "Abby...I'm so sorry! You have to understand that I only did what I did to protect you, you lost your childhood innocence on that day so I just wanted to give it back to you again. Since I started giving you the pills, you've seemed like a happier child, to the point where after I had stopped doing so when you were recovering from your sex change operation, I didn't continue to give them to you because you seemed to have finally forgotten about what happened. I only wanted to help and protect you-"

_**SLAP!**_

Everyone was shocked when Abby abruptly cut Desmond off by slapping him across the face, she looked up to reveal a river of angry tears spilling from her eyes. "How could you?! How could you do this to me?! Did you think I'd never find out? Clearly your little strategy didn't work because eventually Plague was not only able to reveal himself to me but was able to tell me about mine and his powers!

"You've been lying to me all these years and now apparently I was experimented on by a mad scientist, our mother who was a well known hero died trying to save us and I witnessed it, and now that mad scientist is apparently trying to find me again? What else have you lied to me about?! What about my gender identity?! Did you convince me when I was eleven that I should be a girl as part of your plan to make sure I had forgotten all about the past?!", she screamed.

Desmond couldn't answer, he simply held his now bruised cheek as tears spilled from his eyes; he was so deeply ashamed of what he had done, even if he did what he thought was right to protect his little sister from those terrible memories. He tried to reach out to her but she slapped his hand away and ran out of the bodega, heading off into the woods.

"Abby!", K.O., T.K.O and Fink shouted as they all ran after her. Desmond placed his hands over his face and sobbed openly, "I'm sorry, Abby! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you! I was just trying to protect you, but I guess I didn't do a good enough job. Some big brother I turned out to be!", he said as he wept. The wolf boy slowly walked over to Desmond and gently placed his hand on his shoulder, "Hey...you did what you thought was right. There's no shame in that but you should've known that repressing those memories wouldn't have helped. You should've...should've just...just..."

The young wolf was cut off when he started to cough violently, his hand clutching his chest as blood spewed from his mouth; his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to the ground. Carol ran over to him and held his head up off the ground, "I think he's having a seizure! Gene, call 911!", she shouted at Mr. Gar who ran inside to call an ambulance.

Meanwhile in the middle of the woods, Abby sat by a pond crying silently into her hands; a spot of black fur appeared on her back as a a long tendril emerged from it. The tendril then morphed into a creature with black skin, leathery bat wings with a pair of red eyes on each wing and one eye on its chest, pointed ears and a crop of spiky purple hair drooped over its face.

The creature stretched around Abby's back and gently placed its hands on her shoulders, she flinched at this but when she turned to face it, her fear had dissipated. "Plague? Is that you?", she asked. The creature smiled, "_**Yes it is I, Abigail. This is my true form, I suppose I look less intimidating than when I'm controlling your body**_", he said with a dry laugh. Abby sighed as she looked away, "I cannot believe this, I just can't! All these years he's kept this from me, from us! And now those painful memories are starting to resurface", she said.

"_**I know what you mean. My memories were also blocked by those pills, but now...many of them are coming back. I can remember something: I didn't just live underground with the other Shadow Demons, I was their leader. I had a younger brother as well, whom I cared deeply for. We were all happy...until Dr. Reagan came and stole us away from our subterranean paradise! I...I need some time alone now**_", Plague said bitterly as he retreated back into Abby's body.

Abby sat there in silence, tossing small rocks into the pond when she suddenly heard rustling from the bushes. "Go away, Desmond! I don't want to talk to you right now!", she shouted. The source of the rustling was then revealed to be K.O., T.K.O and Fink who emerged from the bushes, making Abby feel really foolish about what she had just said. The three kids approached her, with K.O. and T.K.O sitting on either side of Abby and leaning against her and Fink laying down on her lap.

"Abby, are you okay?", asked Fink. Abby sighed as she stroked the little mouse's hair, "I don't know how I feel or even how I'm supposed to feel. I still can't wrap my head around this, it's all too much to process", she said. "But Abby, what Desmond did...he did to protect you. I suppose it was wrong how he went about doing it, but he did seem pretty desperate", said T.K.O. Abby let out a small snarl of frustration, tossing another rock into the pond.

"I still can't believe that he kept all of this a secret from me! Our Mom was a hero and I watched her die?! Some mad scientist kidnapped me and experimented on me?! Plague has been occupying my body and I only just now find out about it?! How am I supposed to even feel about that?! My entire life is based on one massive lie...I...I don't even know who I am anymore", said Abby. Fink pouted as she sat up and grabbed Abby by the cheeks, making her face her.

"I don't know about you but I know exactly who you are, Abby: you're the bestest friend and babysitter I've ever had. Other than Boss, you're the only one who's ever been so nice to me. You've taken such good care of me, you understand me and I feel like I can be myself around you. The Boss treats me well but he doesn't always have the time or energy to spend time with me, you are there for me, you saved me and aside from Boss, I can't think of anyone else I'd love to be around", said Fink.

Abby was taken back by the little mouse's speech, she wasn't expecting that from her. "Yeah, Fink is right. You're my friend too, Abby. You and I have a lot in common: you're just as fun loving as me but you know what it's like to grow up without a parent. You know what it's like to not know this part of your family and you know what it means to question yourself and wonder if what you're doing is good enough.

"I used to question if I was doing enough to reach my dream of being a real hero, I used to try to find easier ways of getting there, but then I remembered what Mom told me. She said the path to greatness is hard and long, and that there are no shortcuts. Since then, I've grown and gotten stronger but I've also made some mistakes but that's okay. People make mistakes all the time but the important thing is that you learn from them.

"Your brother made a really really big mistake, Abby. He kept all that scary stuff from your past a secret, which was a bad idea because you probably would've found out later on, but think about why he did it. He was afraid that you would've been hurt by knowing about it, he spent his life reliving those scary moments while helping you forget them. He wanted to take all the pain so you wouldn't have to", said K.O.

Abby sat in silence and contemplated what he said, considering that he might've had a point. "We know you're angry, Abby. Honestly, if any of the three us were in your shoes, we'd probably be angry too. The idea of something as messed up as what happened to you being wiped from your brain by someone you thought you could trust and then they spent the next couple of years lying to you about it while continuing to make you forget it is wrong.

"But here's the thing: your brother only did it to protect from all the pain that comes from those memories. He decided to relieve you of it while letting it chew him up inside for so long, if anything what he did was kinda heroic. But don't get me wrong, it's still wrong though. If he told you, you probably would've at least remembered who your mom was, but a long story short: you need to let it go. I'm not saying that you need to immediately forgive Desmond right away, just let go of how bad those things were.

"Let go and think about why he did what he did, think about how you would've felt. Would you rather be traumatized at an early age and be torn up about it for years or would you like to forget all of it until you were old enough to really think about it? I'm not saying it was good, but from where I'm standing, your brother did you a huge favor", said T.K.O.

Abby thought about what all three kids had said to her and they were all right, Desmond was only trying to help her; he made sure she didn't remember her frightening past of witnessing their mother's death and being used as a lab rat for a madman's twisted science experiments. And not only did Desmond have her forget it but he also had to live with the pain those memories caused him.

If anything, what he did was both an act of heroism and self harm because he saved her from that emotional trauma only to let it plague, no pun intended, his mind for years without once taking any those memory suppressants for himself; he was punishing himself for not being able to protect his little sister and in spite of her anger towards him, Abby felt sorry for Desmond and regretted slapping him and screaming at him.

Maybe if she had given him a minute to explain himself, she probably would've understood his reasoning better. Abby sighed as she looked down at the three children, smiling solemnly. "Thank you, you guys. I couldn't have asked for better friends and I suppose you all have a point, I won't forgive Desmond right away but I will at least go back and apologize for my outburst, and give him a chance to explain. After that, I guess we need to spend some time apart, maybe a week, before I could go back home with him", she said.

The kids smiled back at her and gave her a hug, "We're happy to have helped you, Abby. You're a really good friend too and we love you so much, and if you need to stay somewhere for a week to get some alone time away from Desmond, you could always stay with me and T.K.O. We can play videos game together", said K.O. "No way! She can stay with me over at Boxmore, we can draw and play videos game and pull pranks on those stupid robots", said Fink.

Abby laughed as she ruffled their hair. "Say, Abby. How does Plague feel about this?", asked T.K.O. Abby sighed, "He's...a little put off, some of his memories are coming back too, such as him having a little brother and being the leader of the Shadow Demons. I don't know if he's feeling bad because of Desmond's lie or because he might feel responsible for allowing Dr. Reagan to capture his people but...he needs some alone time too", she said.

Looking up at the sky, Abby could see that it was getting late and they should be heading home; she stood up and stretched, "C'mon kiddos. Its getting dark and we should head back, I'm sure the others are getting worried about us", she said. "Yeah and I'm getting hungry, we should go home. I bet Mom'll make some her awesome spaghetti", said T.K.O as he smiled and rubbed his growling stomach. The others laughed as they turned to walk home, but just as they were exiting the clearing, a strange round object flew out of the bushes and landed near him.

It looked like a small metal ball, "What is that?", asked K.O. as he walked over to it and bent down to pick it up. Abby suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, as if she subconsciously knew something was wrong; she suddenly rushed over and pulled K.O. away from the small metal ball, but unfortunately, it turned out that her hunch was right.

The metal ball split open down the middle and released a torrent of purple mist into the air, the gas surrounded them causing them to cough as it soon became very difficult to breathe. That's when a thud was heard, the group turned to see that Fink was lying on the ground gasping with her eyes closed; Abby then realized that the gas being sprayed around them was type of sleeping gas.

She then heard another thud as she turned to see that K.O. passed out as well, and she wasn't that far off from losing consciousness herself; Abby looked to the side and saw that T.K.O. hadn't passed out yet, but he was coughing and struggling to keep his eyes open. Wheezing and hacking, Abby turned to face him. "T...T...T.K.O.! You...you need to...run and get...help!", she croaked.

Despite his blurred vision, T.K.O. dashed off into the undergrowth just as a small group of people entered the clearing; just before Abby finally lost consciousness, she could see that these people were wearing black robes and gas masks. She looked in the direction where T.K.O. had ran and finally passed out.

T.K.O. ran as fast as he could be his vision was distorting, his knees were wobbly and he felt sick and dizzy; he stopped by a tree to catch his breath and get his bearings. His vision swirled even more as T.K.O. bent over and vomited into a nearby bush, the gas' effects had already made him feel sick but running while he was so dizzy made him nauseous.

During his disorientation, T.K.O. heard footsteps coming up behind him; he turned around and saw the gas mask wearing people speed walking through the bushes towards him. Pushing his nausea aside, T.K.O. stood up and ran again, he could make out the neon sign of Lakewood Plaza Turbo in the distance from the treeline.

Meanwhile at the Plaza, the ambulance had arrived to take the wolf boy to the hospital but, sadly, the boy had died before the paramedics could help him; as it turned out, the wolf boy was one of the children experimented on by Dr. Reagan and he too had a Shadow Demon fused to him, a small snake like one with thin spider legs and four eyes, and its body had rejected the fusion causing them both to die.

The Plaza crew looked on in sadness as his body was taken away by the ambulance to be taken to the morgue, they held a moment of silence for him and hoped that if they were able to find his parents, they wouldn't be too emotionally destroyed by the boy's death. Just then, they heard rustling from the nearby bushes as T.K.O. burst out from the undergrowth and collapsed to the ground.

Carol ran over to him and lifted him into her arms, "T.K.O.? What's wrong, baby? Where's your brother?", she asked in concern. T.K.O looked up at her with tears at the corners of his eyes, "m...mommy...", he trailed off as he finally lost consciousness. Just as Carol was about to walk over to the others, a laser beam shot out from the bushes and grazed her left thigh; she cried out in pain as she fell to the ground, dropping T.K.O.

"Carol!", shouted Mr. Gar. One of the masked figures stepped out of the bushes and walked over to Carol, bending down and picking up T.K.O., holding him in the crook of their arm. "Hey...! You put my boy down!", Carol shouted but couldn't get up due to the pain in her left thigh. The figure ignored her and began to walk towards the road, "Hey! You heard her! Put our friend down, you creep!", shouted Rad as he and Enid rushed over to them. Before they got close enough, the figure dropped another metal ball on the, ground; this one burst open, releasing a flash of bright white light, momentarily blinding them.

"AHHH!", screamed Enid.

"OH COB, MY EYES! THEY BURN!", screamed Rad.

While they were distracted, the figure ran over to a black van parked by the side of the road; the back doors opened as they jumped into the van. The light had blinded the others too but not by much as Desmond was able to slightly make out the figure jumping into the van with T.K.O. in their arms, shutting the doors and driving down the road.

_Oh no...he's finally found us!_, Desmond thought darkly.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 7, come back soon for Chapter 8; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	8. Chapter 8

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 8: Friends & Foes to the Rescue

Professor Venomous reclined comfortably in the wheelchair he sat in as Lord Boxman pushed him out through the double doors of the hospital; he had been discharged earlier that evening and Boxman had come to bring him home, while his wounds were all but scars now, the doctor said Venomous needed to take it easy and had to be wheeled out in a wheelchair so as to not strain himself.

"Oh it's been so quiet and boring at Boxmore without you around, I'm so glad you're alright", said Boxman as he placed his hand on Venomous' shoulder. Venomous smiled back and placed his own hand on top of Boxman's, "I've missed your company as well. The hospital is so...dreary, I'm looking forward to spending my next two weeks of bedrest in the comfort of my own home. I wonder if Fink is doing alright", he said.

"Oh she's fine. She's been with that fox girl from Lakewood Plaza, she really seems to like that little hero for some reason. Here's an idea: why don't we go pick her up? I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you out of the hospital", said Boxman. Venomous smiled as he agreed with the idea, he missed his little mouse minion and he too was looking forward to seeing her.

They crossed the street over to Lakewood Plaza Turbo, knowing that Gar's bodega would still be open since closing time wasn't for another forty five minutes, so they could pick up Fink who they knew was being babysat by Abby. But when they entered the bodega, they were confused by what they saw: Mr. Gar was patching up Carol's left thigh with the first aid kit he kept in his office, Dendy was sitting on the floor typing on her holo-computer, and Rad and Enid were trying to get Desmond to calm down as he was hyperventilating and breathing into a paper bag.

That was when they all noticed the two villains standing in the store, "We're not going to question what you're doing. We're just here to pick up Fink, where's that fox girl who watches over her?", said Boxman.

"I don't know how to say this...but I'm gonna be blunt cause lying won't do anything: Fink was kidnapped by some gas mask wearing weirdos, along with K.O., T.K.O and Abby", said Enid. Venomous suddenly had a shocked expression on his face, "Wait...what? The same mask wearing lunatic who stole my notes and attacked me, kidnapped Fink and her friends?", he asked in disbelief.

"Well, I don't about them being her friends, but yeah. We tried to stop them, but they threw a flash bomb at us and got away. Dendy is trying to see where they went by tracking K.O.'s cellphone signal, hopefully they haven't gone through his pocket, took his phone and chucked it out the window or something", said Rad. "And who's the guy in the wheelchair huffing and puffing into a paper bag?", asked Boxman.

"That's Abby's big brother, Desmond", said Rad.

Desmond stopped breathing into the paper bag and placed his head in his hands, "This is all my fault! I knew he had escaped, why didn't I just tell the police? If I had, my little sister and her friends wouldn't have been taken away! I'm a terrible person and a terrible brother! Why?! Why, Cob?! Why do you do this to me?! Haven't I suffered enough?!", he screamed before a torrent of water crashed into his face.

Desmond coughed and looked up to see Dendy holding an empty plastic cup, "T-t-thank you, d-d-Dendy", he sighed. She then handed him a paper towel so he could dry his face, "Your welcome. I needed to quiet you down because I can't focus with you screaming and also, you need to calm down and relax before you give yourself a heart attack. Yes, it was wrong of you to keep all that a secret from Abby, but you couldn't have predicted Dr. Reagan coming after her or the others, so you shouldn't blame yourself", she said.

Leaning back into his wheelchair, Desmond took a few measures breaths as he calmed himself down. "Can someone explain to me what's going on here?", asked Venomous. "Do you want the long version or the short version?", asked Rad. "We'll take the short version, please", said Boxman.

"An evil mad scientist named Dr. Reagan who tortured and experimented on Shadow Demons and kids, Desmond and Abby included, and murdered a hero named Fiery Fennec is back to finish his experiments. And it seems his goons kidnapped the kids of Lakewood, including K.O., T.K.O, Abby and Fink", said Enid. Venomous sat in deep thought, "Dr. Reagan...where have I heard that name before?", he asked no on in particular.

Dendy walked over to him, showing him the news article. "His illegal experiments were investigated by a journalist working undercover at his old lab, he wrote and posted this article seven years ago", she said. Venomous looked at the picture that was posted along with the article, it was a picture of a middle aged anthropomorphic fox man wearing a white lab coat and glasses, and holding a slender glass jar with a worm like spidery Shadow Demon trapped inside of it.

Venomous looked at the picture closely until an expression of realization struck his face, "I...I know this man!", he said. Everyone looked towards him, "How could you know him?", asked Carol. "Because around seven to eight years ago, he came to me and offered the position of business partner to me since I too am a bioengineer. But I refused to join him when I learned that he was experimenting on children.

"I don't experiment on children, orphaned or otherwise. I'm a villain, not a sick demented monster. I honestly would've reported him had I not found out about his lab blowing up, when I heard about that I thought he was dead. That's why I had completely forgotten all about him, but I guess he's alive and eager to finish his experiments; he was probably the one who attacked me and stole my notes on glorbs, I don't even know what he's trying to do, I told him it wouldn't work!", he said.

"What do you mean? What wouldn't have worked?", asked Mr. Gar. "His crackpot theory about fusing a person with a Shadow Demon to give them all of their benefits like strength, power and longevity. He told me about it the day he asked me to join him, I told him it wouldn't work because there was a strong chance that the host and Demon wouldn't be compatible, and both their bodies would reject one another.

"But because he idiotically fused them through open heart surgery, the Demon couldn't escape and was left to slowly die inside their host's body which would in turn kill their host. I actually told him that, but he laughed in my face and told me he was so sure his theory was correct. If he really is still alive, then we need to find him before he inadvertently kills the children of Lakewood", said Venomous. "Which we will do as soon as I get a lock on K.O.'s cellphone", said Dendy.

Desmond then looked in Venomous with an apologetic expression, "You must be Professor Venomous. I want to personally apologize for this, because of me your daughter and her friends have been dragged into this. I promise you we'll get her back safe and sound, we'll get all the children back", he said. Venomous blushed as an awkward smile appeared on his face, "Um, thank you for your conviction to help, but...Fink isn't my daughter. She's my minion", he said.

Desmond let out a small laugh, "Oh I'm sorry, its just that...she spent the last week at my house because Abby was babysitting her while you were in the hospital and from the way she spoke about you, I was led to believe you were her father", he said. "Well, she's not but I have entertained the idea. Plus I was going to be a parent once, but...that was years ago and not important right now", said Venomous.

Suddenly, a beeping sound went off; everyone looked to see it was coming from Dendy's holo-computer, "I've got a lock on K.O.'s cellphone, its weak but its still detectable and according to my computer, it's coming from a barren area of the Danger Zone", she said. "Then let's get moving", said Venomous as he tried to get up from his wheelchair but suddenly let out a grunt of pain and sat back down.

Lord Boxman looked at him in concern as he placed his hands upon his shoulders, "Venomous, you can't go anywhere. You're still recovering from surgery and you need bedrest, I know you want to help Fink but you can't help her if you're too weak to stand up. But I know who can help", he said. Boxman pulled out his phone and dialed it, waiting for it to pick up. "Hello, Darryl? I need you, Shannon and Raymond to come over to Lakewood Plaza immediately. Don't ask me why, just get your metallic butts over here", he said as he hung up.

After about ten minutes, the three robots showed up. "Good you three are here. Here's the thing: Fink and all of the other kids in Lakewood have been abducted by a mad scientist who wants to use them as lab rats for his experiments. Since Venomous can't accompany the Lakewood heroes because he still needs to recover from his injuries, you three are going to go in his place", said Boxman.

"I'm not sure about this, Father", said Raymond.

"Why do we have to help these lame-o Lakewood losers?", asked Darryl.

"And what's in it for us? Do we get a reward?", asked Shannon.

"Okay then, how about this? If you bring Fink back safe and sound, I'll take you all out to those places you three have been begging me to take you to. Think of it as a reward and a family day out as we'll all go out together", Boxman said with a smile.

"You mean we'll go to the Theater?", asked Raymond.

"That new theme park?", asked Darryl.

"The beach? Okay, we're in. We'll help out these losers, if it means we'll finally get to go out and have fun", said Shannon. "Good. Now get on to rescuing those kids, I've got to get Venomous back home", said Boxman.

Meanwhile in an undisclosed location, K.O. let out a small groan as he regained consciousness; he slowly opened his eyes to say he was in a completely white room, with bright lights hanging above him. K.O. had to shut his eyes again as the brightness was too much for his eyes to take, he waited for his eyes to adjust before he opened them again.

The room was square shaped and the only wall that wasn't completely white was the front facing wall, which was a pane of plexiglas; K.O. slowly sat up and rubbed his aching head, looking around the room to get his bearings. The sounds of groaning caught his attention and he turned around to see that he wasn't alone in the room, T.K.O. and Fink were lying on the floor slowly waking up.

"Ow...my head! It hasn't hurt this much since I stayed up late playing videos game", muttered Fink. T.K.O. leaned his head against the wall as he still felt slightly nauseous, he slowly cracked his eyes open to see K.O. tapping on the plexiglas wall, as if he was trying to find some way to open it. "K.O., what are you doing?", he asked. "I'm trying to break out, don't you guys realize where we are?", said K.O.

Fink and T.K.O. snapped to attention, rushing over to the plexiglas wall; they looked out to see dozens of these square enclosures with plexiglas fronts, and inside each one was either a child they recognized from Lakewood, a young or older teenager they didn't recognize or a Shadow Demon.

Each prisoner reacted to their imprisonment in various ways: the children from Lakewood were tapping on the glass or crying for their parents, the unfamiliar teenagers sat with their heads leaning against the glass with a dead expression on their faces, and the Shadow Demons were angrily ramming into the glass trying to break it to escape but it held.

"Well, guess that proves that we can't break this glass window. So now what do we do?", said Fink. K.O. leaned against the glass and slowly slid to the floor, "I don't know...right now I can't even think. My head still hurts from the gas and my stomach is empty", he said as he rubbed his growling stomach. In fact, all three of them were really hungry and the pains from hunger and the gas made them feel slightly sick, disrupting their concentration.

Just then, their attention was drawn to a whirring sound from the left of the enclosure; a trough emerged from the wall and a rubber tube came down from the ceiling and hung over the trough, it shook and rattled as several small round objects fell from it into the trough befbefore disappearing back into the ceiling. K.O., T.K.O and Fink looked into the trough to see it was filled with about 20-30 shining red apples.

Practically drooling, Fink dived in and grabbed two apples but before she could take a bite out of one, K.O. snatched it from her. "Hey! What's the big idea, momma's boy?!", she shouted. "We're in Dr. Reagan's new lab! You can't trust whatever food he gives us, it could be poisoned for all you know", said K.O. "Dude, if they wanted to poison us, they wouldn't have bothered knocking us out with gas. Also, he needs test subjects for his experiments, so I doubt he'd just be randomly poisoning us", said T.K.O.

K.O. took a moment to think about it and he realized he was right, Dr. Reagan did kidnap them and the other kids to use as test subjects for his experiments, so it made no sense for him to try to poison them. So he gave Fink back the apples and reached in to grab his own; having her apples back, Fink took a big bite out of one of them. She chewed for a bit before she stopped, her expression changing to a disgusted grimace.

"These apples are...sour! Ugh that's gross!", she shouted. K.O. and T.K.O took bites out of their own apples and found that she wasn't kidding or exaggerating, the apples were indeed sour. "Okay I take it back, he is trying to poison us", said T.K.O. as he held the apple away from his face. K.O. sighed sadly, "We haven't been here long and I'm already missing Mom's cooking. I want a real dinner!", he whined.

"Yeah, compared to this schlock, Boxbutt's lame-o cooking is looking like a five star all you can eat buffet", said Fink. K.O. sighed again before proceeding to eat more apples, wincing every time the foul tasting fruit came in contact with his taste buds. "Why are you still eating them if they taste so bad?", asked T.K.O. "Because I'm hungry, and if I'm being honest, I'd rather eat sour apples than starve", K.O. said sadly as he forced himself to eat more.

T.K.O. and Fink felt they couldn't argue with him and they too forced themselves to stomach the foul tasting fruit, soon the trough was full of apple cores and the three kids sat away from it on the other side of the enclosure. They all felt slightly sick because of how the apples were so sour they almost tasted like they were rotten, but at the very least they weren't hungry anymore.

"Ugh, I don't feel so good, you guys", said Fink. "Yeah...you're looking kinda green there, well...I mean...more than usual", said T.K.O. as he rubbed his aching stomach. K.O. tried once more to see if he could find a weak spot in the glass wall, but because he felt sick from the fruit, he couldn't muster the energy to make a power fist. Feeling tired, K.O. crawled back over to the corner he sat in earlier and leaned against the wall, trying to relax.

"Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the apples, maybe it would've been better to just go hungry", he muttered. T.K.O. crawled over to K.O. and gently pulled him out of the corner, before he could question why, T.K.O. sat in the corner and had him lean against his shoulder. "Does this feel better?", he asked him. K.O. nodded as he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep, just as T.K.O. closed his eyes, he felt something on his lap.

He opened his eyes to see Fink had crawled onto his lap and had fallen asleep, T.K.O. blushed in embarrassment and was tempted to tell her to get off, but he quickly felt very warm and comfortable, and since he was feeling sick from the sour fruit, he didn't really have the energy to push her off his lap. T.K.O. leaned his head against K.O.'s head and fell asleep.

As the three kids slept, they were unaware that they were being watched by a security camera in the upper lefthand corner of the enclosure; in another room, Dr. Reagan sat at a desk watching the security footage on a small monitor. "Look at them, sleeping like helpless little infants. It's hard to believe these three are as powerful as they are", he muttered.

He then stood up from his chair and walked into another room, inside the room was Abby; she was dressed in a white hospital gown and strapped down to an examination table, their was a oxygen mask attached to her snout. The mask was attached to a tube that split off into two tubes that were in turn attached two tanks, one was filled with oxygen and the other was filled nitrous oxide.

Dr. Reagan looked at her with a calculating expression before the sound of struggling caught his attention, he looked up to see Plague was strapped to a panel hanging from the ceiling; his arms and wings were held down by leather straps and his eyes were forcibly held open by medical tape, as if he was being forced to watch something. Plague squirmed and thrashed but he couldn't break through the straps even though he would normally be able to shred right through leather with ease.

"I've already told you that you can't escape, why do you still struggle?", said Dr. Reagan with a questioning expression. Plague looked at him with anger fueled malice, "_**You...bastard! When I get free, I'm going to rip your face off and stick it in a blender! Ugh, why can't I get free anyway?!**_", he screamed as he tried to break free again. Dr. Reagan quietly walked around the table and gently stroke the black tendril that connected Plague to Abby's body, which made Plague flinch in disgust.

"Its the anesthetic I've given to Arthur, not only has it rendered him unconscious and is going to keep him unconscious, but since you're bonded to one another, it seems to have weakened you", said Dr. Reagan. "_**Of course I've been weakened by anesthesia, it makes sense since we share...wait? Arthur? Him? What are you, an imbecile? Her name is Abigail, she's a girl!**_", said Plague.

Dr. Reagan snapped his eyes towards him, "No. He was born a boy, was given the name Arthur and I shall address him as such. I don't care that he's changed his name or that he had a sex change operation, he is Arthur and that will never change", he said. Plague scoffed, "_**So on top of kidnapping her for your twisted experiments, you're misgendering her too? I didn't think I could hate you any more than I already do. I wish I was free so I could tear your nuts off**_", he snarled.

Dr. Reagan let out a small evil chuckle, "Too bad you're not. Tell me...how does it feel knowing you had to kill all of those Shadow Demon hounds that I implanted mind control microchips into? Does it make you feel sick knowing you had to murder many of your own kind just to protect your new friends?", he asked in a patronizing way. Plague felt as if a wrench had been slammed against his chest, his body shook as tears fell from his eyes.

Dr. Reagan gave him an expression of fake sympathy, "Oh I'm sorry for your lost, but to me I have plenty more to guard my labs and do my bidding so I'm not broken up. Anyway, as you know I'm still trying to figure out how to properly fuse Shadow Demons with people to give them your abilities but all the subjects keep dying. You and Arthur are the only ones to not only survive for this long but have achieved perfect symbiosis.

"I have yet to determine what makes you so special that you've outlived all the other subjects but I will soon discover the truth and when I do, I will come forward in front of the entire world to present my scientific achievement. To think, I'll be hailed as a hero above all heroes; I will bring this world into the future!", he said. Just then, six scientists entered the room, two of them holding glass containers.

In one container was a small Shadow Demon hound and in the other was a small Shadow Demon that looked like a cobra but with a pair of arms and legs. "**_Rex?! Slithers?!_**", Plague shouted when he saw them. The two demons snapped their eyes towards their leader, "_**Plague? Is that you?! Thank Cob, you're alive! We've missed you so much, you have no idea how long we've tried to escape, unlike the previous children who have grown into teenagers, we haven't given up trying to escape**_", Slithers, the snake demon, said while the hound merely barked.

"_**Brother...my brother! Where is he?! Where is Pestilence?**_", asked Plague. Slithers shook her head, "_**I don't know where he is, I'm sorry**_", she said sadly. "We await your instructions, Dr. Reagan sir", said one of the scientists. Dr. Reagan looked at them, completely ignoring the small conversation held by the two demons.

"Four of you, I want you to stay here and conduct several tests on Arthur, I need to know why he and his demon have survived for as long as they have. The two of you holding those demons, take them to the operating room I had prepared and inform the guards that I want those two twin Lakewood boys brought to the room and prepared for the procedure", he said. As the scientists went about to do as they were told, it took Plague ten seconds before he caught on to what Dr. Reagan was talking about.

"_**Two twin Lakewood boys...wait what?! You sick bastard! You stay away from K.O. and T.K.O. or I swear to Cob I will kill you! Do you hear me?!**_", Plague screamed in blind rage. Dr. Reagan turned to look at him with a smirk, "Oh don't worry, I'll be gentle with them. Plus, I have a feeling their power will keep the alive long enough for me to determine what has kept you alive this long", he said before he left ignoring Plague screaming death threats at him.

Back to where the enclosures were, K.O., T.K.O and Fink were still asleep when they were abruptly woken up by another whirring sound; they opened their eyes to see two guards standing outside of their cell, the glass panel having slid to one side to allow them entry into the cell. The guards pointed their guns at K.O. and T.K.O., but rather than fire bullets, they fired metal cuffs that binded their hands and feet together. Then the guards walked in and grabbed them by the back of their shirts, carrying them away and quickly sealing the enclosure to keep Fink from escaping.

"Hey you losers, let my friends go! If you hurt them, I'll knock your teeth in!", she shouted as she slammed her fists into the glass. K.O. and T.K.O were too preoccupied with struggling to escape that they hadn't even acknowledged that Fink had called them her friends. They were brought to the operating room where Dr. Reagan and six female scientists were waiting, "Thank you gentlemen. Now give them to the ladies and return to your posts", he said.

The guards gave the squirming boys to two of the scientists before leaving, the doors closing behind them; K.O. and T.K.O continued to squirm, trying to escape. "What are you going to do to us?!", K.O. asked in fear. Dr. Reagan ignored them as he spoke with one of the scientists, "If they keep squirming and wiggling we'll never be able to perform the procedure. Give them the muscle relaxants, then strip them down and strap them to the tables. Once they're restrained, we can sedate them and began the procedure, hopefully they'll survive it", he said.

K.O. and T.K.O.'s eyes widened, "What do you mean "hopefully we'll survive"? Are...are you gonna saying what you're about to do might kill us?!", K.O. shouted in hysteria. "Also, "strip us down"?! You're a creep, man! A sick and twisted creep!", shouted T.K.O. Dr. Reagan scoffed, "Oh please, why do you think I'm currently standing with my back turned to you while all the scientists in this room are women? I'm not a perverted pedophile", he said.

The boys flinched as they felt something sharp prick the skin of their arms, they looked to see that one of the scientists had injected them with the muscle relaxants; the boys' hearts were racing as they felt their limbs going numb, their squirming having stopped. They could only shut their eyes in fear as the women removed their clothes until they were only in their underwear and then they were strapped down to the operating tables.

Back in the holding area, Fink was placing back and forth in a panic. "Dang it! Those freaks are doing who knows what to my friends and I'm trapped in here! I need to get and help them, but how?", she said to herself. Just then, she heard the sound of metal sliding across the floor; she turned around to see the cover of the drainage hole in the floor was sliding off.

Then Fink watched as six spidery legs emerged from the drain, pulling up the creature the were attached to: it was a small Shadow Demon with a round head, a single red eye, a tiny pair of wings, a beak, a long body and twelve spidery legs. It looked at Fink who looked back at it with a mixture of surprise and apprehension, "What...? Who are you?", she asked. The demon looked at her, "_**I'm a friend, and I'm here to help you**_", it said in a nasally male voice.

Miles away, a van drove down the road through the Danger Zone, narrowly trying to stay on course while avoiding all the dangers in its path; inside, Rad drove the van while Enid sat in the passenger seat, Carol and Mr. Gar sat in the back with Darryl, Shannon and Raymond, and Dendy leaned towards the front seat. "Are we there yet?", asked Darryl.

Rad groaned in annoyance and frustration, "Okay first off, this ain't a roadtrip it's a rescue mission. Second, we're in the Danger Zone, I'm trying to get us there without getting kill by literally everything around us. And third, we get there when we get there!", he shouted at him. Darryl decided it was best to keep his mouth shut as Rad turned to Dendy, "How far away are we, Dendy?", he asked. "According to my cellphone signal tracker, we're only two miles off from our destination", she said.

Mr. Gar wrapped his arm around Carol's shoulders as he noticed the worried look on her face, "You okay, Carol?", he asked. Carol sighed, "I'm worried about my boys, Gene. I can't stop thinking about what might be happening to them. You know, I had mixed feelings when K.O. brought T.K.O and explained how Abby separated them into two people. I was happy knowing I had another son to raise but I was concerned he'd be a troublemaker and cause problems.

"Surprisingly, he wasn't. He mostly kept to himself at times but he never tried to start any problems. I asked him why he was acting so well behaved out of curiosity and he explained to me that he was grateful for the fact that he was a real person and was finally free from K.O.'s mind, and he didn't want to take Abby's gift for granted. I love him as much as I K.O. and now I'm scared for their safety", she said.

Mr. Gar held her close and rubbed her shoulders in a comforting manner, "Don't worry, Carol. We'll save the boys and all the other children, and the Shadow Demons too. I promise that I won't let anything bad happen to them", he said. Carol smiled at as she leaned against his chest and hugged him, "Thank you, Eugene", she said.

Meanwhile back in Dr. Reagan's laboratory, K.O. and T.K.O. were strapped down to the operating tables with white sheets covering their exposed bodies, except for the square shaped hole in the sheets where their chests were. The scientists were scanning them while hooking them up to heart monitors and I.V. drips, then oxygen masks were placed on their faces.

One of the women inserted a syringe into a bottle and pulled the plunger up, filling it with the liquid sedative. She came over and inserted the needle into K.O.'s arm and injected have of the sedative into him, she then walked over to T.K.O. and did the same; the scientists then went about gathering the tools they needed, washing their hands and putting on scrubs.

The two Shadow Demons, Slithers and Rex, looked on in horror from within their glass prisons as they watched them preparing to perform the procedure that had taken the lives of many children and their own people; Rex whined while Slithers looked at the two boys with tears in her eyes. "_**Please Cob, please...let no harm come to these sweet and innocent children. Please send us a miracle...a miracle that will save us all**_", she whispered as her tears fell.

T.K.O. looked over to K.O. as he could feel himself slip under the anesthesia, "k-k-K.O.?", he stuttered as his foggy mind made it hard to form words. K.O. looked at him while struggling to keep his eyes open, "y-y-yeah...T.K.O...", he whispered. "If...if we don't make it, I wanted...to say...I'm sorry for being such a...jerk to you when we...were still one person. And...I'm sorry for...trashing the...Plaza", T.K.O. muttered.

K.O. gave him a crooked smile, "Its...okay, T.K.O. I forgave you for that...I know you just...wanted to be free...and thanks to Abby, you are now. And since then, you've...you've actually been really...nice to me...y-y-you...you're the best brother...I've ever had...", he murmured as tears formed at the corners of his eyes. T.K.O. smiled back before the anesthesia finally took full effect and the two boys lost consciousness.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 8, come back soon for Chapter 9. Until then, this is Superkirbyland234 signing out!


	9. Chapter 9

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 9: Fusion Battle Part 1

_~Flashback/Dream Sequence~_

_"Boys, I'm home!", a voice called out._

_The voice was that of the famous solo hero, Fiery Fennec, as she walked into her house after a busy day of fighting bad guys and working as a chef in a local restaurant. Her two sons, fourteen year old Desmond and seven year old Arthur, happily ran over to her and hugged her around the waist. "Welcome home, Mama! Did you take down lots of bad guys?", asked Arthur. "Did you bring anything back home?", asked Desmond._

_Fiery Fennec or Cassandra, as that was her actual name, smiled down at her two boys. She reached into the big brown paper bag she was carrying, "Of course I did. I always bring something home for my babies, this is for you my little Arty", she said as she pulled out a cake box. Arthur took it excitedly and opened it to reveal six Berry Bites, he looked at the glistening desserts with a wide smile as he began to salivate a little bit. "Thank you, Mama!", he said._

_Cassandra then handed the bag over to Desmond, who looked inside to see that it held several dismembered robot parts. "A couple of robots attacked the cafe earlier around lunchtime, so I decided to bring you back some parts after I took them all down. I figured you could repurpose them into something useful", she said. Desmond smiled and hugged his mother's waist, "Thanks so much, Mom. I'm gonna turn these into a milkshake maker", he said._

_As Cassandra went to sit on the couch and unwind with some afternoon television, Desmond headed to his room to work on his next project and Arthur sat next to his mother to watch tv as well and enjoy his confections, there was a low tapping sound on the window. Outside of the window was Plague, he was slamming his hands against the glass, screaming for someone to hear him but no one did._

_~End of Flashback/Dream Sequence~_

Fink looked down at the tiny demon with suspicion, "Who are you and how do I know I can trust you?", she asked. The small Shadow Demon looked at her with its single eye, "_**You can trust me because I know Plague, I'm an old friend of his. I saw him and his host being taken away to a room to be experimented on, as were you two friends. I can help you escape so you can help them**_", he said.

Fink looked outside of the glass wall before turning back, "Okay...I'll trust you. My name is Fink, so...how are you gonna get me out of here?", she said. "_**My name is Screech, and I can get you out using the same thing Dr. Reagan is trying to accomplish. You see, we can fuse together and become one being and I will be able to transfer my strength and power to you. And unlike that lunatic's ridiculous surgery, I will be able to exit your body when we're done**_", he said.

As weird as it sounded, Fink knew she couldn't just sit around and wait for help or to be taken away to be used as a lab rat, so she grabbed one of Screech's tiny legs with her thumb and index finger and shook it. "Alright I'm in. So...how does this work?", she asked. Screech let out a small noise of satisfaction, "_**You need to clear your mind and relax your body. Close your eyes and breathe slowly as I enter your body, this won't be painful at all**_", he said.

Fink sat down and crossed her legs, closing her eyes and slowly breathing in and out; she cleared her mind of all thoughts as she felt her body enter a state of peace, almost as if she could fall asleep at any moment. Screech nodded in approval as his body morphed into a small black ball of dark energy, he floated in the air before moving towards Fink and sank into her chest.

Fink flinched as she felt Screech's presence within her but she continued to relax and breathe calmly; a spot of black skin appeared on her chest as it spread all over her body, covering her arms and legs and then finally her face. "_**Open your eyes, young one. Look upon your new form**_", Screech said within Fink's mind.

She opened her eyes and approached the glass wall, the glass showed her a reflection of her body and she could see that her eyes were bright green, her skin had turned black, she had a wide unnatural smile on her face, a pair of black wings sprouted from her back, her legs had transformed into a tendril like tail, and around her neck was a green spiked collar, and on her wrists were matching wristbands.

Fink marveled at her newly transformed body, "Wow...I look...awesome!", Fink said in a deep and raspy voice. "**_Good and now you can escape and help your friends and the others_**", said Screech. Fink smirked as she flew over to the glass and tapped it several times, "Hey guards, let me out! I've gotta go to the bathroom!", she shouted. One of the guards approached the glass but was taken aback by what he saw, he barely had time to react before Fink took a deep breath and let out an ear piercing sonic scream.

It not only shattered the glass but it incapacitated the guard, Fink flew out of her enclosure while marveling at her new powers, "This is so cool!", she said. "_**Yes and now you can free the other children and my brethren**_", said Screech.

"No".

Screech was shocked by what he had just heard, "**_No? What do you mean 'no'?! I told you we had to free them all!_**", he shouted angrily. "And we will, trust me. I haven't forgotten that I said I'd help you free everyone else but K.O., T.K.O and Abby are the ones in danger right now, they're the ones I gotta help first. These kids and demons aren't going anywhere so when I save my friends, I'll come back for them", said Fink. Screech huffed in annoyance but he understood her decision, despite how much it frustrated him.

"**_Fine then. As much as I don't want to abandon them, Plague is my friend and leader. And I am forever loyal to his family, so we'll go save him and his friends first, then we come back for the children and my brethren_**", he said. Fink nodded as she looked up to the other prisoners, "Don't worry everybody, I'm coming back to let you all out! I have to save my friends before they're used a Guinea pigs first", she said before flying down the hallway.

Meanwhile outside of the facility, Rad had parked his van behind a couple of tall trees and bushes so it wouldn't be spotted by the guards standing outside. Everyone stepped out of the van, but when Rad goes to open the trunk, he was startled by what he saw. "Desmond?! What the heck are you doing here?!", shouted Rad.

"I came to help you rescue my sister and her friends, I know that you think I shouldn't be here since I'm in a wheelchair so I'd only get in the way but I can make my own weapons and I can fight back regardless of the fact that my legs don't work. And besides, it's my fault all of this is even happening, so it's only right that I help end this once and for all", he said. The others looked at each other before turning back to him, "Alright Desmond, but just try not to get yourself killed. We don't want to lose anyone", said Mr. Gar.

Desmond nodded as he pulled a handmade blaster from the pack he carried on the back of his wheelchair, "I won't. Now what's the plan?", he asked. "We're going to take out the guards so Dendy can then hack into the security system and shut it down", said Enid. They snuck over to the entrance of the laboratory, hiding behind a large bush to keep out of the guards' line of sight; Mr. Gar signaled Rad and Enid to take out the guards, the two leapt out and tackled the guards to the ground.

Rad punched one in the face while Enid kicked the other into a nearby tree, effectively knocking both of them unconscious; they two signaled the others that the coast was clear and they ran out of the bushes, Dendy hooked up her hackpack to the passcode entry pad on the side of the door. She typed down on her holo-computer, hacking into the security system and disabled it.

This also allowed the doors to open up for them, "I've managed to disable the entire system but it won't take long for Dr. Reagan to realize that so we need to head in now", said Dendy. The others nodded as they rushed in just as the doors closed back up, they were immediately taken aback by the sheer size of the inner interior of the facility. "This place looked a lot smaller on the outside", muttered Darryl. "Yeah it'll take forever for us to find everybody", said Shannon.

"Actually, I've already located them. Since the security system is deactivated, I'm able to look through the information mainframe and I've found where they're keeping the kids and Shadow Demons. They're down this hallway, and I've also found...oh no...", Dendy trailed off as her face shifted to an expression of horror. "Dendy, what's wrong?", asked Enid.

Dendy turned around and showed them what she discovered in the schedule part of the database: it said "Test Subjects #123 and #124 scheduled for 'Demon Fusion Procedure' at 0600 hours", and below those words were a picture of K.O. and T.K.O. "They've been taken away to have the same operation performed on the kids in the past that ended up killing them! And its happening in twenty five minutes!", said Dendy. "Oh no, my babies! We have to save them!", said Carol in fearful concern.

"Dendy, can you pinpoint where the room they were taken to?", asked Rad. Dendy typed into her holo-computer desperately hoping to find her friends before they were operated on and inadvertently killed, her device beeped as the map of the facility appeared on screen and a small blinking red dot flashed on the screen indicating where they were.

"They're in operating room #304, which is down this hallway and up a flight of stairs. As I said, we've got twenty five minutes before they're operated on", she said. "Twenty five minutes is all we need! Rad and Enid, you and the Boxmore bots head down the hallway and free all the kids and demons. Gene and I will head in the opposite direction and save K.O. and T.K.O, and hopefully we'll find Abby in the process", said Carol.

The duo nodded, "Right. Dendy, come with us. We're gonna need you in case there are more of those monitors that need passwords to open the cells", said Rad. Dendy nodded as she followed after them while Carol and Mr. Gar headed in the opposite direction towards the staircase, that was when they noticed Desmond speeding up behind them. "Desmond no, you should go with the others and free the prisoners. It'll be less dangerous and also...you can't climb stairs", said Carol.

Desmond merely looked up with determination, "I don't care! My sister and her friends are in danger because of me, I have to help no matter what! You can't stop me so just help me", he said. Carol and Mr. Gar knew there was no use in arguing with the twenty one year old so they simply gave in, Carol lifted him into her arms bridal style while Gar grabbed his wheelchair, and then all three of them headed up the stairs.

Meanwhile in the operating room, the scientists had finished the preparations and were ready to begin the procedure while Dr. Reagan stood off to the side to watch; Slithers shut her eyes and turned away as she couldn't bare to watch as the scientists were about to cut open K.O. and T.K.O.'s chests. "So which one shall we start with, sir?", asked one of the scientists. Dr. Reagan smirked, "Hmmm...start with the boy with the long and shaggy hair, I have a feeling he'll last longer than the other", he said darkly.

From within his glass prison, Rex growled in anger as he began to ram his body against the wall of the tank his was trapped in; this startled the scientists but Dr. Reagan reassured them, "He's locked up inside that tank and he has no opposable thumbs, he can't get out. Hurry up and open the boy's chest already!", he demanded. One of the scientists picked up a scalpel and moved closer to T.K.O., as she lowered the sharp medical instrument towards his exposed chest, Rex kept ramming himself against the glass.

"**_Rex, what are you doing? Are you trying to make things worse?!_**", she shouted at him. Rex simply growled and barked as he rammed into the glass of the tank, slowly inching it closer to the edge of the table it sat on; Dr. Reagan was becoming annoyed by this and instructed one of the scientists to fill another syringe with anesthesia to give to him, but before she could even move over to the table to get what she needed, Rex gave the tank one last shove and it fell off the table.

It landed on the floor, smashing into a million pieces and freeing the trapped Shadow Demon hound; Rex looked up with a crazed grin as he flew up into the air and transformed into a ball of dark energy, zipping through the air like an angry bee before jumping into T.K.O.'s body. T.K.O.'s suddenly snapped open and he ripped himself free from his bindings, a spot of black skin appeared on his chest before spreading all over his body, much like how Screech had changed Fink.

When his transformation was completed, T.K.O. stood on the operating table with pitch black skin, sharp claws, a long furry tail and a face closely resembling that of a dog's face; he stood there growling and breathing heavily as he stared at the scientists in the room. Dr. Reagan looked at him with a mixture of excitement and disbelief, "How...how is this possible? He's achieved symbiosis without the need of surgery?!", he said.

T.K.O.'s fists glowed purple as he fired power punches at them, Dr. Reagan immediately escaped from the room while the female scientists struggled to run away as many of them were being pelted by T.K.O.'s power punches. Once they had all left, T.K.O. flew over to Slither's tank and ripped the lid off, setting her free; then Rex emerged from T.K.O's body, leaving the boy to sit and breathe heavily.

"Whoa...did...did you just jump into my body and made me do all that? Cool but how...?", he asked in wonderment. "**_It is called 'Selective Symbiosis', it's an ability we Shadow Demons have which allows us to enter the body of another creature and bond to them temporarily. We give them our power, restore their stamina and heal their wounds, and if we're incompatible or simply want to leave, we exit our hosts' bodies without harming them._**

**_"That is something Dr. Reagan is trying to do but fails to comprehend, perhaps he'd know if he ever took the time to communicate with us instead treating us like dumb animals that can't understand a single word spoken to us. But that's not important right now, for now we must get you and your brother out of here before those scientists regain their senses and come back with weapons_**", said Slithers.

That was when T.K.O. remembered K.O. was still in the room as well, he looked to his side to see he was still lying on the table unconscious and with an oxygen mask strapped to his face; after telling Slithers to find their clothes, T.K.O. and Rex went about setting him free, Rex used his sharp teeth and claws to rip his bindings off while T.K.O. removed the oxygen mask from his face. "K.O.? Hey, wake up dude", T.K.O. said softly as he gently tapped K.O.'s face.

"**_I'm afraid that won't do you any good, he's been heavily sedated and probably won't wake up for at least another two hours_**", said Slithers as she handed T.K.O. his and K.O.'s clothes. "Can't you just jump into his body and wake him up the same way Rex did for me?", asked T.K.O. as he put his clothes back on and then placed K.O.'s clothes back on his body. "**_I don't want to scare the boy or worse send him into shock, it didn't happen with you and Rex because you're probably strong enough to handle it_**", she said.

T.K.O. then resorted to just carrying K.O. on his back so they could leave, but before they could, there was a banging sound outside of the main doors; T.K.O. braced himself to face whatever was outside the door, he wasn't about to let anything happen to him or his brother without a fight.

Meanwhile downstairs, Dendy had finished hacking into the control panel which controlled the opening and closing of the cells, and released all the trapped kids and Shadow Demons. "Everyone please remain calm! To the kids, we're gonna get you outta here and back home to your families. To the demons, we're gonna make sure you're back to roaming free but we need you organize yourselves", said Enid.

The kids and demons calmed down and silently rejoiced as they learned they were going to be freed from this waking nightmare, "Good. Now that we got that outta the way, let's blow this popsicle stand", said Rad. But as he turned around, the group was immediately confronted by a squadron of armed guards. "Surrender now or we'll be forced to use deadly force against you!", shouted one of the guards.

Remembering they promised their Daddy that they'd help, Darryl, Shannon and Raymond activated their weapons' systems and sprang forward to fight the guards, but they quickly realized that they were outnumbered and the guards were all unnaturally strong. "Wow! Why are they so beefy?", asked Rad. A small Shadow Demon that looked like a ball of hair with four insect wings, one eye and tiny legs swooped by his head.

"**_Its because Dr. Reagan used glorbs to artificially enhance the strength of his guards, since almost all of them are just normal people with no powers of their own. He'd implanted ten glorbs into each guard to make sure they were of optimal fighting efficiency_**", he said. "Ugh, I can't believe I'm saying this but we gotta stop them before they tear apart the Boxmore bots", said Enid. "Yeah but didn't you hear the little guy? They're powered up by tons of glorbs, what can we do?", said Rad.

That's when another demon, one with a wispy body, small wings, long pointed about and long pincers for hands approached them. "**_Perhaps we can help, my name is is Pincer. We Shadow Demons have an ability called 'Selective Symbiosis' where we can bond to a host temporarily and share our power with them. And when we're done or if we're incompatible, we harmlessly exit their bodies. We can help you two become stronger_**", he said.

Rad and Enid looked at each other before nodding and turning to Pincer, "Okay. We'll trust you, so help us out", said Rad. Pincer laughed, "**_Well I can't bond with both of you but I can bond with you_**", he said as he pointed to Enid and then flew towards her. He slowly entered her body through her chest, which made her feel uncomfortable, "Uh hey, warn me next time!", she shouted. "**_Alright then but please calm down because otherwise we won't be able to bond due to your intensity_**", Pincer said within her mind.

Enid took a few breaths to calm down as Pincer began to transform her body: her hair burst free of its scrunchy and turned purple and unkempt, her skin turned black, her legs changed to a tendril like tail, her eyes turned red and a unnaturally wide grin appeared on her face, and her hands became long pincers. Enid sprang forward and began slashing at the guards with her pincer hands, she didn't cut them but she did destroy their weapons and smacked them into the walls.

One of the guards reached over to the wall and pushed a button, activating the security alarms; more guards came pouring down the stairs, armed with blasters. "Dang it, Enid's gonna get swamped! Hey, does anyone here wanna bond to me?", Rad said into the crowd of Shadow Demons. They looked down to see something moving between them, it emerged from the crowd to reveal a small Shadow Demon cat with black fur, purple horns and red eyes.

Rad blushed and smiled widely as he picked up the demonic feline, "Awwww! Aren't you just the cutest little kitty I've ever seen? What's your name?", he gushed as he rubbed his cheek against the cat's face. The cat smiled before she jumped into Rad's chest, morphing him: his hair turned purple and his skin turned black, he grew a long bushy tail, his nails turned into long claws and his face resembled that of the demonic feline.

"The name's Fang!", Rad said in a high pitched and raspy voice before jumping into the crowd of guards and started tackling and punching them, picking them up with his finger beams and flinging them into the wall. Soon, other Shadow Demons began to join in on the fight while some of them hung back to form a protective wall around the children.

Back in the operating room, T.K.O. lifted his fists as he waited for whatever pounded the door as the alarms blared around him incessantly; after a few seconds, the door burst open to reveal the newly transformed Fink hovering in the doorway. "Fink? Is that you?", asked T.K.O. The black skin peeled away from her face in order to expose her real face, then Screech's head emerged from her chest. "Yup, Screech here bonded with me so we can escape and come save you guys, but it looks like you're already free", she said.

That's when she saw K.O. leaning against T.K.O.'s back, "What's wrong with momma's boy there?", she asked. "Those nutjobs injected us with some weird drugs that knocked us out, I'm awake because Rex over here jumped into my body and we fought off the doctors but Slithers didn't want to do the same for K.O. cause she's worried she might give him a heart attack or something, so now I have to carry him", said T.K.O.

The two were about to leave the room when they bumped into Carol and Mr. Gar. "Mom!", T.K.O shouted. Carol smiled widely as she handed Desmond over to Mr. Gar and bent down to hug her sons, "Oh my babies, I'm so glad you're safe", she said happily. That's when she noticed K.O. and gently picked him up from T.K.O.'s back, "What's wrong with him?", she asked.

"Those creepy doctors drugged us but Rex here jumped into my body and we fought them off before they could experiment on us. Slithers won't wake him up that though cause she's afraid she might send him into shock", said T.K.O. Carol looked down at her son as he continued to sleep, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him. "I think I know a way to wake him without scaring him, it's a method I've used before", she said with a wink.

Carol then leaned closer to K.O.'s head, "Hey Peanut, it's time to wake up now", she whispered soothingly into his ear before kissing him on his cheeks a few times. K.O. squirmed as he let out a few giggles, "Mommy...that tickles", he said as his eyes finally opened and focused on what was around him. When he saw that his mother was holding him, K.O. smiled and threw his arms around her neck, hugging her. "Mommy, its you!", he shouted happily.

She hugged him back before carefully setting him down on the floor, his legs wobbled for a bit as the muscle relaxant was just wearing off and he was slowly regaining the feeling in his legs. "Good to see you're back in the world of the living", said T.K.O. K.O. would've walked over to hug his brother but his legs still felt unstable and shaky, but he was still happy to see him.

"**_Here little one, let me help you with your legs_**", said Slithers as she gently merged her hand to K.O.'s chest. K.O. was surprised when he saw his legs turn black and suddenly stopped quivering, he could feel his strength returning to his feet and knees. Slithers then removed her hand allowing him to flex his legs to test their steadiness, "Wow that really helps. Thank you, Miss...?"

"**_Slithers, and your welcome. Now we must escape from this nightmarish place_**", she said answering K.O.'s question. "We can't escape yet! We've gotta find Abby, she's in danger too", said Fink. Rex sniffed the air and pointed down another hallway, "Huh? What is it, boy? Whatcha smell?", asked T.K.O. Rex jumped up and down, barking at the hallway. "I think he knows where to find Abby, he keeps pointing down this hallway. Maybe that's where she is", said K.O.

Rex ran down the hallway with the kids following him, Mr. Gar placed Desmond's wheelchair down on the floor and carefully lowered him onto it so he could follow him and Carol as they chased after the kids.

In another room, Dr. Reagan was hastily searching around for something in his office, he had heard the alarms go off and he saw on the security cameras that not only were all his test subjects freed but Enid and Rad had fused with two other Shadow Demons and were taking down the guards alongside the Boxmore robots. At this point, Dr. Reagan was overwhelmed by fear and anger as he continued to tear his office apart trying to find whatever he was looking for.

Finally he found what he was looking for: a small metal safe inside a large drawer, he pulled it out and placed it on the desk; he entered the combination and opened the safe, reaching in to grab something. Just then, one of the scientists rushed into the room holding a clipboard, "Sir! You've got to see this!", he shouted. Dr. Reagan looked at him with a displeased glare, "Not now! Can't you see I'm doing something here? This is my only chance to save my years of hard work", he said.

"But sir, it's the results of the blood tests performed on Arthur! We've been able to determine why he and his demon had survived for so long!", said the scientist. Dr. Reagan looked at the clipboard and read the results, suddenly his eyes widened and he began to laugh maniacally. "Um...sir...?", the scientist said fearfully. "How could I have forgotten? How could I have been so foolish? It all makes perfect sense now", he said as he slipped the object he pulled from the safe into the inner pocket of his lab coat.

"I want you to go and bring me Subject #799, and then meet me outside. I think it's high time little Arty and his brother knew the truth", he said with an evil grin. The scientist shook with fear but nodded anyway and went to perform his task.

_~Flashback/Dream Sequence~_

_Cassandra laid asleep in her bed and curled up next to a mysterious person, she slowly woke up when she heard her bedroom door creak open; she turned around to see Arthur standing in the doorway with tears in his eyes, he was wearing yellow pajamas and held a small blue blanket and big brown teddy bear. Cassandra and the unseen person sat up to look at him, "Arty? What's wrong, baby?", she asked. Arthur wiped his eyes as he stood in front of the bed, "I had a nightmare, Mommy. Can...can I sleep with you and Daddy?", he asked in a meek voice._

_Cassandra smiled as she picked him up and laid in the bed between her and the unseen person, she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek, holding him close to her body; the unseen person reached their hand over to stroke Arthur's hair, "Wanna talk about your nightmare, son?", he asked. Arthur shook his head, "No...it was too scary, I don't wanna talk about it", he whispered as he curled up against his mother._

_Arthur heard his mother humming her lullaby to him as he felt himself relax and slowly drifted off to sleep, Cassandra smiled as she stroked her son's hair before leaning over to kiss the unseen man on the lips. As they laid down to sleep, there was a banging on the bedroom window; Plague hovered outside the window, tapping on the glass. "**Abby! Wake up! You have to get up, we have to get out of here! Please, wake up!**", he shouted._

_Arthur stirred a bit in the bed, "Mmm...what's this 'have to get up and get out stuff'? I don't wanna get up and do anything, this right here is good enough for me", he whispered in his sleep. Plague looked in through the window in desperation as he he continued to pound on the glass trying to awaken his host; Plague became so desperate that he even started crying, "**Please Abigail, I'm your friend! Please don't shut me out, you're all I have! Please wake up and come back to me**", he sobbed._

_~End of Flashback/Dream Sequence~_

Rex scratches at a door he stumbled across at the end of the hallway, barking and trying to knock it down so he could get in, K.O. and the others soon came upon the demonic canine as he continued to scratch the door. "She must be in there but it doesn't look like Rex can break the door open, what do we do?", asked Fink. Slithers stepped forward, "**_I know a way to get through! K.O., I need you to bond with me_**", she said.

Since he was still unconscious when she had explained it to T.K.O., K.O. didn't know what she was talking about but he stepped towards her anyway; Slithers turned into a ball of energy and merged into K.O.'s chest, transforming him. His skin turned black, he grew long claws, his eyes turned red and he had an unnatural smile on his face with a long serpentine tongue in his mouth, and he grew a long tail. K.O. looked down at his newly transformed body, "Whoa...this is so cool!", he said in a snake like voice.

"**_Good, now we can break through the door_**", Slithers spoke from within his mind catching him off guard. It had been quite some time since K.O. had heard another voice that wasn't his own speaking to him from within his mind. He then stepped forward as his cheeks began to puff up and expand, then suddenly he expelled a thick bright green bile at the door.

The bile splattered onto the door and it began sizzling as the bile started melting through the door like acid; once the door had completely disintegrated, the group ran into the room to find Abby still lying unconscious on the table with the oxygen mask still pumping sleeping gas into her face and Plague still strapped to the hanging beam but this time he had a defeated look on his face.

Carol ran over a removed the mask from Abby's face and gently shook her by the shoulders, but she remained unconscious. "**_That won't work. Abigail is stuck in a waking dream as her old memories of her childhood have started resurfacing, I've been banging on the window of the illusion of her old house for hours while those sick freaks where doing blood tests on her, but she hasn't responded to me._**

**_"At first I thought it was because she couldn't hear me, but now I know she is purposely trying to shut me out. In this most recent memory dream, she said she likes where she is and doesn't want to go anywhere_**", Plague said sadly. Desmond gasped, "Its because of Mom. I've been suppressing Abby's memories for years with those pills but now that I've stopped, her own subconscious is trying to help her meet Mom all over again by letting all those memories come back.

"She's basically seeing our mother for the first time in her life and she's purposely shutting you out because she doesn't want to lose Mom, now that she's found her she doesn't want to let her go again because it'll just remind her that our mother is dead", he said. "I don't get it, Plague. Why don't you just break free and carry her out?", asked T.K.O.

"**_Its because she's unconscious. We're bonded together on a surface level, if her body has been incapacitated then mine will become incapacitated as well. Her body is in a sleep like state and by extension my body has gone numb and weak because of it, this is why those scientists have been able to experiment on her and I couldn't fight back. Now she's sitting in her living room watching television with her mother and she's still blocking me out_**", said Plague.

K.O. looked up at Plague, "I don't really think Abby is blocking you on purpose. I think she wants to wake up but she also doesn't want to leave because she's seeing her Mom again. Abby knows her Mom is dead but she also lives on in her memories and I think Abby is scared that if she wakes up, she forget them again and her Mom will really be gone if she does", he said.

Fink crawled onto the table on the left side of Abby's body, shaking her gently. "Abby please wake up! We gotta get out of here before those scientists decide to bring their A game and take us all out!", she said but it didn't work. Abby continued to lay there lost in her memories, Fink sighed sadly as she laid down on Abby's chest and hugged her. T.K.O. crawled up onto the table on the right side and sat there, he looked at Fink who laid on Abby with tears in her eyes and then he looked back at Abby.

_T.K.O.: "Let's go in the garden_

_You'll find something waiting_

_Right there where you left it lying upside down_

_When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded_

_The underside is lighter when you turn it around_

_"Everything stays right where you left it_

_Everything stays_

_But it still changes_

_Ever so slightly, daily and nightly_

_In little ways, when everything stays"_

Everyone in the room was surprised by the fact that T.K.O. had suddenly started singing Abby's lullaby to her unconscious body, "That song...that's Mom's lullaby! She'd used to sing it to me all the time when I was scared or sad, then she sung it Abby when she was born and I made myself memorize it so that not only could I sing it to Abby whenever she was sad or scared but also so I'd have a piece of my mother to hold onto. How do you know it?", said Desmond.

T.K.O. sniffed and wiped his eyes as his eyeliner started running due to the tears he had unintentionally began shedding when he sung, "When...when Abby pulled me out of K.O.'s head, I was happy to be free but...I was scared because of exposed and helpless I felt. She sung that song to me and it made me feel better, I figured if I sung it to her...she'd hear me and wake up", he muttered.

K.O. crawled up on the table next to his brother, "Let me help you, I'll sing along with you", he said. "And I'll help too", said Fink who also had to wipe her eyes as the idea of Abby refusing to wake up made her start crying also. "Let me help as well. I know that song by heart better than anyone, I'll help you kids in case you miss a line", said Desmond. They then held hands and looked towards Abby as they sung.

_K.O., T.K.O, Fink and Desmond: "Go down to the ocean_  
_The crystal tide is rising_  
_The waters' gotten higher as the shore washes out_  
_Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin'_  
_The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown_

_"Everything stays, right where you've left it_  
_Everything stays, but it still changes_  
_Ever so slightly, daily and nightly_  
_In little ways_  
_When everything stays"_

_~Flashback/Dream Sequence~_

_Arthur sat on the couch next to his mother as he watched his favorite Saturday morning cartoon, Card Casters, a foreign show about a young teenaged boy who discovers the spirit of an ancient king lives within the amulet he wore around his neck, which was one of seven other mystical relics, and he and his friends have to find the other six relics all while defeating evil villains with a card game._

_Arthur laid on his mother's lap as he watched the show, feeling relaxed and happy as he was able to spend time with his beloved parent. But then, Cassandra suddenly stood up and bent down to look at him. "Arty...baby, there's something I need to tell you", she said with a somber expression. "What is it, Mama?", he asked. "You need to wake up. None of this is real, it's all just a dream based on your memories of me. You need to go back to the real world", said Cassandra._

_Arthur realized what was going on and began crying, his body suddenly morphing into Abigail, the new person he had become at the age of eleven. "Mom, I don't wanna wake up! I wanna stay here, with you! I wanna be happy, I...I want us to be together forever", Abby sobbed as she dropped to her knees._

_Cassandra bent down to hug her as tears fell from her eyes as well, "I'm sorry sweetie, but...I'm no longer here. My fire was extinguished years ago, but I live on in you! In your spirit, in your powers and in your memories I continue to live on and as long as you never forget how much you love me and how much I loved you, I will always be with you", she said with a loving smile._

_Abby looked up at her, "Please don't leave me, Mom. I...I don't wanna be alone", she sobbed. Cassandra kissed her on her forehead, "I will live on in your mind and heart, baby. And look out that window, you are not alone", she said pointing to the living room window behind her. Abby looked to see all the people she knew: K.O., T.K.O., Fink, Rad, Enid, Mr. Gar, Carol, Plague and even her big brother Desmond; they all stood outside the window looking at her with pleading expressions._

_"You have many friends who love and car about you very much, and right now, they want you to come back to them. Those three little ones need their best friend, Plague needs his best friend and your brother needs his little sister back. Show them that you haven't abandoned them and that you'll always be by their side as they will be by yours", said Cassandra. Abby looked between her mother and her friends before she stood up and walked over to the window._

_Before she opened it, she turned to look at her mother one last time. "Will I ever see you again?", she asked. Cassandra smiled, "Your memories are returning to you, Abby. When you close your eyes and dream, you'll find me because as I said before, I will always live on in your mind and in your heart. Goodbye...my beautiful baby girl", she said as she blew her a kiss. Abby smiled before opening the window and leaping through it._

_~End of Flashback/Dream Sequence~_

Abby abruptly let out a gasp as she woke, sitting up to see K.O., T.K.O and Fink sitting in her lap; when the three kids saw that she was awake, they sprang forward and hugged her tightly.

"Abby, you're awake!", said K.O.

"We thought you were never gonna wake up!", said T.K.O.

"And it's a good thing too because my throat was starting to ache from all the singing", said Fink.

Abby smiled as she held them close to her, a sound from above caught her attention and she looked up to Plague breaking free from his restraints before flying down to hug her from behind. Before Abby could say anything, Plague held up his hand. "**_You don't have to apologize, I know what you were doing and why, honestly I would've done the same if I were you. Just...promise me you won't ever shut me out on purpose_**", he said. Abby smiled and hugged him, "I promise. It's great to see you again, old friend", she whispered.

After helping Abby up and giving her some privacy so she could put her clothes back on, the group made their way downstairs where Rad, Enid and the Boxmore bots had just finished fighting off the last of the guards and were leading the children and Shadow Demons out through the main exit; the duo, along with K.O., T.K.O and Fink took the time to explain to Abby, Desmond, Carol and Mr. Gar about how the Shadow Demons can harmlessly bond to people and leave their bodies without killing their hosts and how Dr. Reagan would've known that had he not treated the demons like stupid animals and listened to them when they explained it.

They all ran outside to join the escaped children and demons but they stopped in their tracks when they saw Dr. Reagan himself standing in front of them with one of the scientists holding something under a tarp. "Surrender now Arthur, and I promise I'll let all of your little friends go in peace and never bother them again", Dr. Reagan called out.

"First off, my name is Abigail! And second, no! You've done nothing but terrorize my brother and I for years, you experimented on me, you tried to experiment on my friends, you killed my mother! Why can't you just go away and leave us alone?! Why are we so important to you that you spent the last seven years practically stalking us?!", shouted Abby.

Dr. Reagan shrugged his shoulders as he smirked and let out a dry laugh, "Well for one thing, I just figured out why you and your demon have survived as long as you had. When you were five months old, you developed a congenital heart disease and no amount of medication could cure you, not to mention it was far too risky to perform a heart transplant on an infant.

"Seeing that you were dying, your mother begged me to find a way to save you. I spent day and night researching and experimenting with lab rats to find a cure when I devised a new yet highly controversial method: I extracted pure energy from dozens of glorbs and injected it directly into your blood, then after a year not only was your disease cured but you grew much stronger.

"I ran a test and found out that the glorb energy fused with your DNA, making you invincible. At first, I didn't think my method would work, I was going off on a hunch but when it succeeded it gave me the idea to go forward with my fusion experiments. That's why you've survived for so long after the fusion operation: the pure glorb energy that has become part of your genetic coding has made your body strong enough to survive and adapt to it. I had forgotten I had done this as it was so long ago, that is why I wanted to find you again", he said.

Abby sneered, "Alright but that doesn't answer my other question: how do you know our Mom? You said she came to you to save me, Desmond said she knew you and tried to stop your illegal experiments, and you killed her! How did Mom know you and if you were friends, then why did you kill her!", she said as tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

Dr. Reagan sighed, "Firstly, I wasn't trying to kill her. I was trying to shoot her in the shoulder so I could incapacitate her and kidnap her so she'd never tell anyone my secrets, the kill shot was for you and Desmond but she jumped in the way sacrificing herself. Second, I knew her very well and she knew me very well because we were more than just friends. Tell me, did she ever tell you what happened to your father?", he said.

"She told me when she was pregnant with Abby that our dad was a hero with super speed abilities, but when he tried saving some people from a burning building, he got trapped underneath some rubble when a ceiling collapsed. They civilians were safe but he didn't escape and died", said Desmond. This prompted Dr. Reagan to laugh hysterically like a raving lunatic.

"Oh wow, if there was one thing Cassandra was always good at it was making up fantastical stories. Your father didn't have super speed and he wasn't even a hero. You see, in our society there are rules that everyone, hero, villain or normal person must abide by. The biggest rule out of all of them was that a hero must never become involved with a villain, whether it's in friendship or in a romantic relationship.

"One night on her way home from her job at that cafe, Cassandra had saved a young villain-in-training from being mugged. She and then young man traded phone numbers and decided to communicate often, they both knew that if anyone ever found out they'd be in trouble but theirs was a friendship that couldn't be broken. One night, on Cassandra's twenty seventh birthday, she and her villain friend had a few too many drinks at the local tavern as they celebrated.

"They then went back to her house together, one thing led to another and two months later, she discovered she was pregnant with her first child. Nine months later, a little boy was born, a boy without any powers of his own; as disappointed as the villain was, he knew it was because of his own lack of powers that his son was born that way, so he had instead hoped the boy would grow up to be a brilliant bioengineer like him.

"Seven years passed and the villain-in-training was making great strides in his rather illegal experiments but he never let Cassandra know what he was really doing, but one day she came to him with her own brand of good news: their second night of passion had blessed them with a second child. Another boy who this time would be born with his mother's fire abilities.

"The villain was overjoyed by this as he was secretly thinking to himself that he now had two sons that he could raise to follow in his footsteps down the road of villainy. But as both boys grew, Cassandra was influencing her oldest to pursue a career in technology, telling him he didn't need powers to be a hero, and influencing her youngest to use his abilities for good and follow in her footsteps down the path of heroism.

"Despite how much the villain-in-training loved Cassandra, he was secretly seething with rage that she was driving their sons away from the path of villainy, a path he wanted them to pursue, but he assured himself that it wasn't too late for him to secretly influence them behind her back, so that's what he had planned to do. And do you want to know who that young man, that villain-in-training really was?", he said.

Abby and Desmond took in all this information and stood there puzzled, but as this knowledge slowly etched itself into their brains, realization hit them harder than an out of control car crashing into a street lamp. Their eyes widened and they both had a look of disbelief and horror on their faces, "No...No! No, that can't be true! It just can't be! You...you're lying!", Abby screamed as she felt tears come to her eyes and her heart started beating rapidly, leaving her with shortness of breath.

Dr. Reagan laughed maniacally as he looked upon the two siblings with a maddening grin, "I've lied about many things in my life, I'm a villain it comes with the territory, but what I'm saying to you two know is 100% the absolute truth: that villain-in-training's name was 'Alexander James Reagan', as a bioengineer he went by the name of 'Dr. Reagan', to Cassandra he was merely known as 'Alex' and to her children he was called 'Daddy'. That's right, Abigail and Desmond: _**I am your father!**_", he shouted.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 9, things are heating up, new secrets have been revealed and the battle has only just begun. Want to know what's gonna happen next? Well then, come back soon for Chapter 10 to find out. Also it seems I will be able to stretch this story pass ten chapters but not too far, maybe twelve or thirteen chapters; until then this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	10. Chapter 10

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

(Warning: This chapter contains character death)

Chapter 10: Fusion Battle Part 2

Abby felt as though the world around her had suddenly stopped spinning and started crumbling to pieces, her breath hitched and her eyes had lost their usual sparkle and became dull and glazed over. Abby fell to her knees next to Desmond, but she was so lost in her utter disbelief and so emotionally broken that she hadn't noticed him wrapping his arm around her shoulders and trying to shake her out of her dead eye stupor.

Dr. Reagan looked at the scene with a perverse smile, almost as if he had taken great pleasure in the fact that he had basically destroyed his daughter in one fell swoop. He let out a dark chuckle, "It seems that I have broken you, dear Abby. But then again, I suppose knowing the truth would've destroyed you whether or not it came from me or from someone you actually trust and care about", he said with a smirk.

Desmond looked at Dr. Reagan with an expression of pure anger, "You bastard! How could you do this to her?! To us?! To our mother?! Was having your crackpot theory being proven right worth ruining the lives of the people you supposedly loved?! Did it make you happy?!", he screamed. Dr. Reagan let out a dry laugh before his face changed to an expression of apathy, "You don't seem to understand me or my intentions, do you? What I seek is power and power is the true secret to satisfaction", he said.

"Satisfaction and happiness are not the same thing!", said Fink. "Yeah, Doc! A person can be satisfied and not be happy!", said TKO. Dr. Reagan looked at them with a dismissive sneer, "Oh I see what your problem is...you believe someone can truly be happy. And such a thought is a dogmatic mindset conjured by ignorant children who can't accept the fact that the world is not as bright and colorful a place as portrayed in those television shows they watch.

"You see, happiness itself is just an emotion that can be induced, similar to how love is nothing more than a chemical reaction from the brain that occurs when one sees another individual who is physically attractive and it compels them to breed. The only thing of substance that matters is power!", he said. Everyone looked at Dr. Reagan with expressions of anger and disgust, "Well...what about good and evil?", asked KO.

Dr. Reagan suddenly burst out laughing which startled his assistant who stood near him, "Ha! I've learned a long time ago that there is no good or evil. What is evil to you only depends on which side of the moral spectrum you stand on, what is good to you is evil to the villains and vice versa", he said. "That's not true!", shouted Fink.

"Isn't it, little mouse? Look at the sun, do you think it cares whether or not your beloved boss was attacked by my brainwashed minions and almost lost his life? No, the sun will set tonight and rise again tomorrow whether you and I are here or not, anything those creatures do whether they're in control of it or not is utterly insignificant. There is no good or evil...only nature, and in nature, the only thing that matters is power", said Dr. Reagan as he gently stroked the covered up object in his arms. Said sentient celestial body held an expression of uncomfortable awkwardness and quickly turned away so it was facing in the opposite direction.

"You're wrong, Dr. Reagan! There's other stuff that matters! Like friendship and trust!", shouted Desmond. "Take it easy, Desmond. Don't let that psycho get to you", said Enid as she placed a hand on his quivering shoulder. Dr. Reagan glared at his son darkly, "Friendship and trust are merely earthbound sentiments that only lead to trouble. I mean look at Cassandra: I was foolish enough to trust her because she knew of my illegal experiments and yet didn't make any move to stop me because of her supposed love for me.

"But the minute I started doing things she seemed to be immoral, she went behind my back and tried to destroy my years of research. What I did to her is simply returning the favor. Trust no one, that's my motto. No one can be trusted lest they use said trust to manipulate you for their own needs, that in it of itself isn't evil but rather a power play. All the relationships a person can have in life, such as friendship or family or romance, are all illusions to cover up the fact that the people involved are only using you for their own needs. The only one you can rely on is yourself because one cannot lie to themselves.

"And if your feelings for them were in fact genuine, then you wouldn't let them take advantage of you nor would you allow them to become victims of atrocities. For example, if Plague truly cared for the creatures he leads, he wouldn't have allowed them to be taken against their will and used by someone else for their own needs. Or in this case..."

Dr. Reagan trailed off as he removed the tarp from the object he carried, revealing it to be a glass container. Inside of the container was a small Shadow Demon with pointed ears, purple hair, leathery bat wings and had a tendril like tail instead of legs. Plague's eyes widened in horror and disbelief, "**_Pestilence! What did you do to him?! What did you do to my brother?!_**", he screamed in anger. The small demon let out a soft groan as he opened his eyes, "_**Plague? Plague! Brother, you're alive! Thank Cob, I thought for all these years that you had died. Please help me!**_", shouted Pestilence.

"_**You didn't answer my question, Reagan! What have you done to my brother?! Why does he look so much smaller than he's supposed to be? He's six hundred years old, he should be almost as big as I am**_", Plague said while seething with rage. Dr. Reagan laughed maniacally, "Since your kind has proved to be so resilient to physical abuse, I used your little brother as a test subject for many of my first experiments. The reason he's so small is because my experiments involved extracting his essence", he said.

He then threw the jar containing Pestilence, but luckily Rad caught it in his finger beam before it landed on the ground; he then opened it, allowing the small demon to fly into the arms of his brother. Then Dr. Reagan reached into his lab coat and pulled out what he had talked from the safe: a glass beaker full of glowing purplish black liquid, "Eww! What is that? It kinda looks like what TKO looked like before he got a body...uh, no offense", said KO which prompted TKO to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

Dr. Reagan smirked, "Within this beaker is pure Shadow Demon essence, combined with the pure energy of glorbs. Anyone in possession of this little concoction will be the most powerful entity on the planet, and that person is me!", he shouted as he pulled the cork out of the beaker and began drinking the essence. Everyone gasped in horror as he guzzled the mixture down as if it was a soda before chucking the beaker to the ground.

Dr. Reagan then let out an ear piercing scream as the sounds of bones snapping and twisting could be heard loud and clear; he tore his lab coat off as two more pairs of arms burst out from the sides of his abdomen, both of which were covered in black skin and had claw like hands. A pair of large leathery wings tore their way out of his back as bumpy spikes formed along his spine.

All of the orange fur fell off of his tail and split apart, leaving him with three long and scaly prehensile tails; about six more eyes popped out all over his head, which was covered by patchy black skin since the fur had fallen out and his teeth grew longer and razor sharp, with his tongue stretching out and becoming more serpent like.

When the transformation was completed, Dr. Reagan stood before everyone as this seven foot tall deformed monstrosity that looked as though it had crawled out from the deepest, darkest depths of Hell itself. He stood there looking at the horrified crowd in front of him with a twisted grin, "I've finally realized what my true goal was: it wasn't to prove that my theories were correct so that I'd become a hero amongst heroes, it was so that I could become a God!", he shouted.

Then he suddenly launched one of his tails forward and grabbed Abby by the waist, slowly wrapping it around her body and dragging her to him; this was enough to shock Abby out of her stupor long enough to realize what was happening and she began screaming for her life. Dr. Reagan dragged her towards him until they were face-to-face, "Your misery is about to end! Once I've swallowed you whole, you'll become a part of me. And then I shall do the same with all the other demons, absorbing them will make me the most powerful entity on the planet and all shall kneel before me!", he shouted.

Then he opened his mouth, stretching it to an impossibly wide angle so he could swallow Abby in one single gulp; Abby struggled to break free but the grip of his tail was too strong, all she could was shut her eyes tightly and scream. But before Dr. Reagan could devour her, he suddenly screamed and dropped her to the floor due to something flying by him and scratching his face. Dr. Reagan turned to see that it was Fink, who had bonded with Screech again, who flew by him and scratched his face with her claws.

"You little brat! I'll rip you pieces!", he screamed as he launched all three of his tails at her. Fink flew upward and dodged the tails, slashing at them with her claws; then Dr. Reagan felt a sharp blow to his back and turned around to see that TKO, who was bonded to Rex again, had fired a power fist at him. Dr. Reagan tried to lash out at him with one of his tails but then KO jumped up and bit the tail, which caused the mutated man to screech in pain but then he screamed even louder when he felt the burning sensation of the acidic bile KO expelled from his mouth thanks to being bonded to Slithers.

"Rad, we've gotta help them out!", said Enid before she bonded to Pincer and flew out to join the fight. Rad called out to Fang, who quickly joined and transformed him, allowing him to run into the battle on all fours. "Gene, we've gotta help the kids, they may be strong with their demons but I don't think it'll be enough", Carol said to Mr. Gar.

"**_Hey do either one of you want to bond with me by any chance_**?", said a voice.

Carol and Mr. Gar turned around to see a tall four legged demon with a long snout, long tail and a purple hair like spine on the back of its head. "Who are you, sweetie?", asked Carol. "_**My name is Scratch, I'm a pretty decent foot fighter and if I bond with one of you, we'll both be strong enough to take out tall, dark and gruesome over there**_", she said confidently. Carol and Mr. Gar looked at one another, "You do it, Carol. Your boys are out there and they need your help, someone has to stay here and protect the kids", said Mr. Gar.

Carol nodded and then turned towards Scratch, "Let's do this!", she said with a smirk. Scratch smiled as she transformed into a ball of dark energy and merged into Carol's chest; her body began changing as her blond hair turned purple, her skin turned black, her legs became longer, her eyes turned red and she grew a tail. Mr. Gar's face turned red and he started sweating because he secretly found Carol's new transformation quite attractive, but he quickly regained his composure as he knew now was not the time for this.

He slowly approached Carol, "You be careful out there", he said. Carol gave him a rather jagged smile before giving him a quick kiss on the lips, then she looked down at Desmond who had gotten her attention by tugging on her jumpsuit. "Please protect my sister, she's all I have", he pleaded. Carol smiled at him and gave him a quick yet reassuring hug before jumping into the fray.

Dr. Reagan was struggling to hold his own against his opponents: KO had burned one of his tails with his acid bile and was now slashing at him with his claws as was Enid with her pincer hands, TKO and Fink were dodging the other tails while firing power fists at him, Rad had his hands locked with Dr. Reagan's and the two were struggling to knock each other down. Carol arrived just in time to see Abby trying to crawl away from the scuffle, "Are you okay, sweetie?", asked Carol. "Yeah...I'm fine, just a little shaken up", said Abby.

Carol patted her on the head as she ran forward and delivered Dr. Reagan a swift kick to the chest, knocking him into a nearby cluster of trees; he quickly stood up and snarled at the group of heroes that stood before him. Power...I need more power...I need to absorb more demonic energy, he thought darkly. He looked up at the group of heroes and smiled evilly, then he launched two of his tails forward; they penetrated Rad and Enid in the chest and they yanked themselves back out, removing Fang and Pincer from their bodies, which caused them to change back to normal.

The two teens barely had time to collect their thoughts when they saw their new companions being swallowed whole right before their eyes; Dr. Reagan laughed as his body glowed a deep purple, he grew a few inches taller and sprouted two more tails. He laughed maniacally as he looked towards Abby while lifting one of his tail, a sharp spike sprouting out from the end of it. "If I can't have your power, then I'll make sure you won't have it either", he said.

Dr. Reagan tried to fire the spike off his tail at her but then found himself struggling as Rad had caught his tail with his finger beam, holding him back; he was about to grab Rad with his other tails when he screamed in pain and saw that once again KO, TKO and Fink had all grabbed onto three of his tails and clamped their jaws around them. "Get off of me you little brats! Release me at once or else I make your deaths as slow and painful as possible!", shouted Dr. Reagan as he took three of his fists and began repeatedly punching them in the head.

Despite the increasing amount of pain in the skulls, the three kids continued to bite down on Dr. Reagan's tails with their sharp teeth, but the agony was soon causing their vision to blur and distort; their demon companions could only use their power to keep their skulls from cracking open, they couldn't do much about the pain.

From where he sat, Desmond could only watch in horror as he saw his sister cowering in fear and crying while her friends were struggling to keep the mutated mad scientist from attacking her. Rad and Enid were growing tired since they didn't have their demons to help keep their stamina up, Carol was trying to keep herself from being strangled to death as Dr. Reagan had one of his hands gripped around her throat and KO, TKO and Fink couldn't hold out anymore and finally let go of his tails, dropping to the ground.

The demonic black skin receded back into their bodies as they de-transformed due to losing consciousness, "I have to help my sister! They won't be able to hold him off any longer, I need to save her. Damn my useless legs!", Desmond muttered to himself. "Psst, let me help you! My brother is out there and he needs my help too", whispered a voice. Desmond looked to see Pestilence crouched down next to his chair, "_**I have just enough strength to give you back the ability to use your legs**_", he whispered.

Desmond looked back at the battle seen and then looked towards Mr. Gar, "Mr. Gar...you know how you told me earlier to stay out of trouble so I don't end up getting hurt?", he asked. He caught Mr. Gar's attention just long enough for Pestilence to merge with Desmond without being seen, "Yeah...what about it?", asked Mr. Gar. Desmond gave him an apologetic look before suddenly kicking him to the ground with newly restored black and scaly skinned legs before hopping out of his wheelchair and running towards the battle.

"Desmond, no!", shouted Mr. Gar.

Dr. Reagan snarled as he threw Rad, Enid and Carol to the ground and turned to face Abby, "Enough of these childish games! It's time I permanently remove you from my life like I should've done seven years ago!", he shouted as he finally launched the spike from his tail at her. Abby was so paralyzed by fear that all she could do was close her eyes and wait for death to take her, but then she heard what sounded like a pained gurgle.

Abby looked up and, to her shock and horror, she saw Desmond standing in front of her with the front of the spear jutting out of his back; Desmond let out another gurgle before falling onto his side, with Pestilence sliding out of his chest. Abby screamed as she crawled over to her injured brother, with Plague popping out of her back, "**_Pestilence! What in the nine levels of Hell were you doing!?_**", he shouted at his little brother. "**_He wanted to help his sister, so...I gave him his legs back_**", Pestilence whimpered.

Abby held Desmond's head in her lap as tears fell from her eyes, "You're bonded to him! Please help him", she begged. "_**I'm sorry but I don't have enough strength to, Dr. Reagan extracted my essence and took most of my power with it. I only had enough to restore his legs, I didn't know this is what he planned on doing, if I did I wouldn't have offered to fuse with him. I'm sorry**_", said Pestilence. Abby held Desmond close to her body as Rad, Enid and Carol circled around them, each of them holding one of the three unconscious child heroes.

Desmond coughed up some blood as he looked up at Abby, "Little sis...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry that I kept...all of this a secret from you...all these years. I thought it would...keep you safe but I was wrong...but I want you to know that I loved you so much and I only wanted what was...best for you", he gasped. Abby hugged him tighter, "Shh! Don't talk like, you're gonna be alright. We'll think of something", she sobbed. Desmond let out a small laugh which then dissolved into a violent coughing fit.

"All these years...I've held onto the painful memories of our past...shielding you from it so you wouldn't have to suffer. I've been in pain for so long...all I wanted was for it to stop and now...I'm finally free, I just wish...I just wish I didn't have to leave you alone", Desmond croaked. Abby cried even harder, "No! Dessie, please don't leave me! Please! I lost Mom and barely even remember her, I can't lose you too! I forgive you for protecting me from the truth and I'm sorry for screaming and slapping you, just don't go! Please, I love you big brother!", she sobbed.

Desmond gave her a crooked and pained smile, "I love you too little sister and I forgive you for your outburst earlier, I know you were...just angry and to be fair...I kinda deserved it. You know...its funny...Mom told me when I was little that...I didn't need powers to be a...hero...I guess...she was...she was...right...", he said as he gave a small sigh and his eyes closed.

Abby noticed this and started shaking him by the shoulders, "Desmond? Desmond? Dessie!...no, no, no! Desmond, wake up! Please, don't go! Please...", she whimpered but he remained silent and still. Abby pressed her face against Desmond's head as she continued to cry as hard as she's ever had before, this was the worst pain she ever had to endure, and no injury could compare to the agony of heartbreak she was suffering.

Just then, KO, TKO and Fink had awoke and looked around in confusion as their vision distorted slightly; once they finally regained their composure, they saw that they were in the arms of Rad, Enid and Carol. The two boys weren't even surprised by the sight of their transformed mother, but rather were taken aback by the look of sadness on her face as well as their friends' faces.

Before they could ask what was going on, their questions were answered when they saw Abby clutching Desmond tightly as she continued to sob and the bony purple spike that protruded from his chest. The young trio felt tears come to their eyes as they crawled from the laps of their friends and threw their arms around Abby's waist; she was momentarily distracted from her sorrow and looked at her young friends, who looked back at her with tears running down their cheeks and expressions of sympathy on their faces.

This only caused Abby even more pain as she could see guilt in their eyes, as if they blamed themselves for not being strong enough to stop Dr. Reagan, which would've prevented Desmond from sacrificing himself to save her; she grasped her brother's lifeless body close to her as she let out a loud hysterical scream and cried even harder.

While all this was happening, Dr. Reagan stood off to the side watching the scene with an expression of utter indifference; he no longer felt any form of affection for either of his children as he viewed them both as nothing more than failures and mistakes, and he felt no remorse for the fact that he had just accidentally murdered his oldest son in one swift motion. And more to the point, it confused him as to why KO, TKO and Fink had joined Abby in her sorrow; after all, it wasn't their brother who died nor were they responsible for him taking the spike that was meant for his sister.

"I suppose this wasn't a part of my plan, but I see no issue with this. And maybe now that I've truly broken you, you'll feel more inclined to let me absorb you into my being. What do you say, kiddo? Wanna do something right for once?", he said smugly.

Suddenly, Abby's expression of sorrow morphed into one of unrelenting rage; bright red electric sparks swirled around her body, stinging the kids' hands and forcing them to back away and hide behind Carol. Abby looked up at Dr. Reagan with fury blazing in her eyes, "You...you...**YOU BASTARD! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! YOU KILLED THE ONLY FAMILY I HAD LEFT**! Using me as a Guinea pig and kidnapping my friends is one thing, but...this!? And now...now...**I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!**", she screamed.

Just then, a torrent of red and purple energy swirled around her body as she had undergone a new transformation: her orange and white fur turned to black and white with purple tips as did her hair, she grew about two feet taller, her nails extended into sharp claws, a pair of wings grew from her back and her snout had morphed into something more draconian in appearance.

Everyone, Dr. Reagan included, were taken aback by her new transformation; Abby had become something else, something powerful and looked at the mutated beast she no longer called her father with the rage of her heartbreak flaring in her eyes. There was a new look in them now, it was terrifying and unsettling: in her eyes, everyone could see the intent to kill.

She then turned her head to her companions, "I suggest all of you back away to a safe distance. I don't want any of you to get caught in the crossfire, I've lost my family...I don't want to lose my friends on top of that. Now go!", she said. They all nodded as Carol picked up KO and TKO, Enid grabbed Fink and Rad bent down to gently pick up Desmond's body, and they ran back to where the escaped children and demons were.

Abby then turned her head back to face Dr. Reagan who looked at her with a smug grin, "While I must marvel at your new form...I'm afraid it won't be enough to stop me-"

He was abruptly cut off when Abby flew forward and punched him in the face, sending him careening into a nearby tree; Dr. Reagan stood up and spat the blood out of his mouth as he angrily glared at her, he then used his tendril like tails to grab the tree he collided with and flung it at her. Abby used her claws to slice the tree in half as she flew towards him, kicking him in the stomach which launched him into the air.

Abby then took to the air with her new wings and flew after him, Dr. Reagan regained his senses as he punched Abby in the face but she ignored it as she punched him directly in his mouth, knocking out some of his teeth. Dr. Reagan spat out more blood as he roared in rage, he then opened his mouth as a bright red light formed inside of it. Abby was caught off guard when a beam of energy fired out of his mouth towards her, but thinking quickly, she threw up her hands and formed a protective shield out of her own energy.

However, while she had the shield up, she failed to notice Dr. Reagan stretching his tails towards her; when Abby dropped her shield, the tails suddenly grabbed her. Two pinned her arms to her body, one wrapped around her neck and the other two grabbed her wings. "Did you really think that just because your demon changed you and gave you power, that you could stop me? I have more power than you'll ever have and now I'm going to show you what happens to those who defy me", said Dr. Reagan.

He then began to tighten his grip around Abby's neck, strangling her slowly while pulling on her wings in an attempt to tear them from her body; the intense physical pain was too much and caused Abby to let out a loud scream which caught the attention of everyone down on the ground. "He's gonna kill her! We have to do something!", said Fink. "Yeah but what can we do? We weren't able to stop him, how are we supposed to help?", asked TKO.

"Wait, I think I know a way you can help without endangering your safety", said Dendy. "Really? How do we do that, Dendy?", asked KO. Dendy opened up her holo-computer and showed them a diagram of what looked like the three of them firing energy beams at Abby, "Dr. Reagan had gained more power from devouring Pincer and Fang, absorbing their demonic energy. It stands to reason that demonic energy, which has been proven to be much stronger than turbonic energy, can be easily transferred between individuals. You need to combine all of your energy together and transfer it into Abby", said Dendy.

"That sounds like a good idea, but there's a problem with that, Dendy: how are they supposed to transfer their energy into Abby without indirectly giving it to Dr. Reagan? He's kinda squeezing the life out of her right now! Also, what if while they're trying to transfer the energy, Dr. Reagan swoops in, knocks her out of the way and takes the energy for himself?", said Rad. Dendy looked up at him, "Well...there is a way but you won't like it. Someone will have to distract him long enough for KO, TKO and Fink to transfer their energy into Abby", she said with an apologetic look.

Everyone looked at each other with questionable expressions until Carol stood up, "Scratch and I will distract Dr. Reagan long enough for the kids to make the transfer", she said. "Carol, no! That psychopath will kill you! You can't take him on, at least not alone. I'll help you!", said Mr. Gar. Carol nodded in agreement before she felt something grab onto to her legs, she looked down and saw KO and TKO holding onto her legs. "Please be careful, Mommy", said KO. "Yeah Mom, please...please don't let anything bad happen to you", said TKO.

Carol smiled as she leaned down to hug her sons and kiss each other them on their foreheads, "I promise I'll keep myself from getting killed, babies", she said. She then stood up and she and Mr. Gar ran out into the battle field, they leapt into the air and joined together to perform their signature double elbow drop move on Dr. Reagan while he was distracted. Abby fell to the ground as the two adult heroes went to work keeping him busy while Enid ran out onto the field and helped Abby walk back over to the group.

"Guys...what's going on?", Abby wheezed. "We're going to help you defeat Dr. Reagan, Abby. KO, TKO and Fink are going to transfer the demonic energy given to them by their demons into you to give you a power increase", said Dendy. And with that said, the three kids began focussing their energy into a single concentrated beam of power and then placing their hands on Abby's back to transfer the flow of energy into her.

They winced in discomfort as they felt not only their demon's energy but their own energy being absorbed by Abby's body, but once they felt like they've given up enough power, they stopped and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, with their respective demonic companions crawling out of their bodies and falling over gasping for breath.

Abby gasped as she felt the energy circulating through her veins, a tingling sensation radiating through her nervous system; she looked down at her young friends who looked ready to pass out at any second and bent down to give each of them a hug, "Thank you for helping me out, kiddos. I'll make sure your energy is put to good use", she said. The young trio gave her tired smiles before they closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Abby then stood up just in time to see Carol and Mr. Gar get thrown to the ground, leaving a crater in their wake. "Enough of this ridiculous nonsense! I've worked too hard for too long to achieve my goals and I'm not about to let a bunch of worthless pawns stand in my of becoming a God! This ends now!", shouted Dr. Reagan. Abby stepped forward and looked up at him, "Agreed, Dr. Reagan! Its finally time to end this!", she shouted back.

"**_And how exactly are we going to finish him off completely, Abby?_**", asked Plague. Abby to a moment to think before a thought came to head, "The Ultra Rainbow Blaze!", she whispered. "_**What**_?", whispered Plague.

"Stop stalling and mumbling to yourself and accept your fate, you sniveling little child!", screamed Dr. Reagan in anger and impatience.

Abby ignored him and took a quick moment to retreat into her mind to talk to Plague face-to-face, "The only way to finally get rid of him is to use my Mom's signature move, the Ultra Rainbow Blaze!", she said. "**_But can you even pull off a move like that? I mean, I did remind you of the fire abilities you have but even I'm not sure whether or not you can do that_**", said Plague. Abby leaned forward to grab Plague by the hand, "You might not have shown me that power but I know I can do it. It was my Mom's signature move and I have her powers, I have to have some knowledge about how to do it", she said.

Plague looked upon the expression of determination on Abby's face and realized that even if she didn't know how to pull this move off, she was still willing to try anyway. Plague smiled in agreement, which gave Abby the confidence she needed to go back and finally face her father.

Abby flew up into the air as both of her hands began glowing in a multitude of colors, she saw a spark of recognition flash through Dr. Reagan's eyes. "What...? No! It can't be! Cassandra said that this was a move she invented herself, something unique to her! No other heroes who have fire based abilities know how to do this!", he shouted. Abby then flashed him a confident smirk, "For a bioengineer, you don't know much about genetics, huh? I'm guessing Mom's moves were passed down to me thanks to our strong genes", she said.

Her hands started glowing brighter and brighter by the second, "Dr. Reagan...you've taken everything from me! My childhood, my mother, and my brother...but one thing you've never succeeded in stealing from me is my happiness! Even in the face of the horrors I've endured, I've found a group of friends whom I love as if they were my family and they've brought me so much joy these past few weeks and I'm going to make sure you're not around to take them from me too. When you get to Hell, tell ol' Deviled Eggs I sent you...and then apologize on my behalf for the inconvenience", said Abby.

Having finished charging up her attack, Abby threw her arms out in front of her.

_"ULTRA RAINBOW BLAZE!"_

All at once, Abby unleashed a powerful torrent of flames that were the colors of a rainbow, with each flaming colorful stripe swirling around each other as the blast collided with Dr. Reagan's body; the blast trapped him in a flaming cage as it incinerated his flesh. As he hovered in the air screaming in pain, Abby felt tears fall from her eyes, but she knew these weren't hers; she had since lost any love she might've had for her father and felt no remorse for destroying him.

In reality she knew these were Plague's tears as she remembered that Pincer and Fang were eaten and absorbed by Dr. Reagan, they became part of him and there was the possibility that both their consciousnesses were still alive within, so it hurt Plague that he had to murder two more of his people to protect the world as it had when he slaughtered all those brainwashed demon hounds.

**_Pincer...Fang...please forgive me_**, Plague thought as he poured more of his energy into Abby's attack to strengthen it. Dr. Reagan's body became nothing more than a black silhouette as his corpse was finally burnt away into ash and then exploded in a burst of red light.

The explosion sent a strong wind flying out which almost knocked everyone to the ground but they all stood still as they saw Abby slowly descend to the ground and fall over onto her side, her energy and the energy she borrowed from KO, TKO and Fink having been spent. Her friends all ran up to her as Carol gently lifted her into her arms, "Abby? Sweetie? Are you okay?", she asked. Abby's eyes partially opened up as she looked at her friends with an almost happy smile, "Never...better...Carol...", she croaked out before finally passed out from exhaustion.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 9 and the battle is over, but the story isn't. There's still two chapters left, with the second one being a bonus chapter that'll take place 6-11 years into the future and will involve one of the characters telling a redone version of the events of the episodes "The Big Reveal" and "Let's Get Shadowy". But that'll have to wait until after the next chapter where we'll see what will become of Abby's life now. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	11. Chapter 11

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 11: A New Family

Abby let out a soft groan as she felt consciousness return to her, the first thing she registered upon waking up was that she was lying on something soft and comfy while something warm was wrapped around her body; she opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on a couch with a blanket draped over her. At first she was confused as she didn't immediately recognize where she was, but as her vision cleared up, she could see that she was in a familiar looking living room.

And it wasn't just any living room, it was KO's living room in his house, and Abby could recognize this as she remembered that one time she came over to his house to hang out with him. Speaking of her young friend, Abby had suddenly noticed him sitting at the kitchen table with his mother and TKO; the two boys were having breakfast while Carol placed a bowl of oatmeal on the floor, that was when Abby saw Rex the demon hound run up to the bowl and began eating and she also just noticed that Slithers was also sitting on the table eating as well.

When Rex finished gobbling up his oatmeal, he looked up and started barking excitedly when he saw that she was awake which caught the attention of everyone else. "No way! I can't believe it! She's up!", said TKO. The group all ran over to the couch, "Abby, you're awake!", said KO. Abby rubbed her head with her hand, "Are you sure...? I feel like I'm dreaming", she said in a daze. That was when the boys suddenly threw their arms around her in a big hug, "You're not dreaming! You're finally awake!", said TKO.

Just then, the moment was interrupted by a loud gurgling noise which turned out to be Abby's stomach growling like an angry dinosaur. "Sounds like you're pretty hungry there, sweetie. I'll go make you some breakfast", said Carol. She got up and walked over to the kitchen while the boys stood in the living room with Abby, "Can you boys please explain what happened? I can't really remember much before the last twenty four hours", she said.

"Actually Abby, it's been more than just twenty four hours", said KO. Abby was confused, "What do you mean? Exactly how long was I out?", she asked. "About...two and a half weeks", said TKO. Now Abby was utterly shocked by what she heard, she almost didn't know either or not to take the boys seriously. "Okay can someone explain to me what happened because I'm drawing a blank here!", she said incredulously.

Carol soon came over and sat on the couch next to Abby, handing a platter of toast, eggs and bacon, a fork, and a glass of orange juice. "Here, hun. Eat your breakfast while I explain everything. You see, after you completely annihilated Dr. Reagan with fiery rainbow move of yours, you passed out; we were going to take you to the hospital, but Plague said there was no need. You slipped into what the Shadow Demons refer to as an "Energy Trance".

"It happens when a Shadow Demon uses up far too much of their energy than their bodies can reasonably handle, so they fall into a deep sleep in order for them to recover, your recovery time took two and a half weeks. A lot has happened in that time: first off, we informed the authorities about what happened and as it turned out, P.O.I.N.T was involved in this too. Foxtail told me she had been investigating the whole thing since that incident seven years ago, even though your Mom wasn't part of a superhero team, her death and involvement with Dr. Reagan didn't exactly go unnoticed.

"P.O.I.N.T was actually trying to track him down for years after that first incident, remember that undercover journalist who published that article about it? He was actually hired by Foxtail to go undercover and find out what was going on; they couldn't find Dr. Reagan after that because he went underground and stayed off the radar for the last seven years, and now everything he did has finally come to light", said Carol.

Abby took in all this information as she ate her breakfast, "So...what happened to the kids and the Shadow Demons?", she asked. "Rad, Enid and Mr. Gar helped take all the kids from Lakewood back to their families, but there were still a bunch of other kids from other towns and cities that Dr. Reagan held captive for years. P.O.I.N.T took it upon themselves to do some digging to find their families while letting them live at P.O.I.N.T Prep Academy for the time being.

"Fink was pretty worried about you after you passed out but we told her everything was gonna be alright and that she should go home, we promised to keep her updated on your condition and she dropped by every once and a while to visit you, she even sometimes helped Mommy wash and clothed you since you were unconscious and couldn't do it yourself", said KO.

"As for the Shadow Demons, Foxtail asked Plague to make a public statement on tv about the existence of his people. Since he was still there leader, he agreed and went in front of tons of reporters and newscasters to explain to...pretty much the whole world that Shadow Demons have been around practically since the Stone Age. Plague also explained that even though they looked scary, the Shadow Demons are friendly and actually wanted to live away from people in their little underground world.

"But as it turned out, when Dr. Reagan kidnapped them all, he had his cronies blow up their underground caverns, which caused tons of dust and debris to choke up the underground rivers, poisoning the water. He did this so if they ever tried to escape, they'd have no home to go back to, which would break their spirits and force them to stay with him forever.

"So, in spite of that, Plague said that now that everyone knew of their existence, the Shadow Demons would have to live above ground from now on. Many of the strong and powerful demons have started living in parts of the Danger Zone while the rest have decided to live in the forests, where there's plenty of fresh water to drink and plants for them to eat.

"And, after explaining what 'Selective Symbiosis' was to everyone, lots of people have taken some of the demons in to live with them, and even if many of them aren't compatible, they still gave them homes to live in. That's the reason why Rex and Slithers are here: after bonding with me and KO, they didn't want to leave so we decided to keep them, and Screech felt the same way so he decided to go live with Fink at Boxmore. Rad and Enid probably would've kept Pincer and Fang had they not been...well...eaten", said TKO.

That's when Abby felt like her throat closed up and she had lost the remainder of her appetite, "Desmond...what happened to him?", she whispered. She looked up to see the boys struggling not to cry as their respective demons tried to comfort them while Carol held a hand over her heart, "I'm sorry, Abby. But...there was nothing anyone could do to save your brother, he was...already gone. We gave him a proper funeral and buried him in Lakewood Cemetery, we put in a lovely spot on a hill under a cherry blossom tree", she said.

"Yeah, that was actually KO's idea. He wanted your brother to have a great view of the whole town, and instead of a regular old tombstone, I asked Mr. Gar to have a small statue made of your brother standing on his two legs, looking all awesome and heroic. It seemed more respectful to me than a simple tombstone. And as for all the kids and demons who have died because Dr. Reagan, their families made a special shrine in the center of the cemetery to honor them. If you're ever feeling up to it, we can go pay Desmond a visit...anytime you want", said TKO as he wiped his eyes.

With tears in her eyes, Abby smiled as she leaned forward and patted TKO lovingly on the head. "Thank you, all of you. I couldn't have asked for better friends but...what do I do now? My brother was the working to keep us afloat and pay the mortgage on our house, now that he's gone, our home will eventually be foreclosed. And since I'm only fourteen years old, I'll probably end up in foster care until someone decides to adopt me...say, wait a minute! Is Plague still here? Did he go back to his people?", she said.

Just then, Plague emerged from her back and flew around to her front to face her. "_**Firstly, I'm glad to see you're doing alright, my friend. And second, my people did ask me to come back with them to the forest and lead them again but I told them I couldn't. Because of Dr. Reagan's experiments, we're permanently bonded to one another and we can't ever be separated lest the procedure would end up killing the both of us. **_

_**"Then one of my brethren asked me why I couldn't just bring you with me once you woke up and I said that one, it would be kidnapping because you're still a child and two, you've just lost the last remaining member of your family, I couldn't bear to separate you from your friends on top of that. It wasn't fair to you but it also wasn't fair to leave my people without a leader to guide them, so I appointed my younger brother Pestilence to take over, he would've done so when so once I've reached past my prime anyway as our family were the Alphas.**_

_**"I've decided that even though we're bound together forever, where we go is decided by you. Even if we were separated, you're my family too and follow you wherever you go no matter what**_", he said. Abby smiled as she hugged her demon, "Thank you, Plague. It's good to know I'll still have someone I know with me in my new foster home, hopefully they'll let me visit everyone else from time to time", she says wistfully.

Carol then gave her a reassuring smile and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I wouldn't have to worry too much about that", she said. Abby gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?", she asked. Just then, there was a knock at the door; Carol stood up to answer it, standing outside was a tall fair skinned woman with maroon hair tied up in a bun and wearing a black woman's suit.

"Good morning, Ms. Baldwin", said Carol. The woman reached out to shake her hand, "Good morning, Carol. I've got all the paperwork together, I just need to make an inspection of your home", she said. Ms. Baldwin walked into the house and placed her bag down on the kitchen table, reaching inside and pulling out a clipboard; she then walked into the kitchen and took a look inside the fridge before writing something down.

She then walked into the living room where the kids were and took a look around while writing on the clipboard; Abby looked up nervously at her as she knew this woman was a social worker who was probably here to take her to a local orphanage where she'd be staying until she was adopted. Ms. Baldwin walked through the rest of the house, looking around and writing on her clipboard before she finally finished and came back to the kitchen where Carol was sitting.

"Well Carol, based on my inspection, your home seems like a safe and happy environment, and going by the appearance of your own children, it shows you are indeed a good parent and I see no reason why you shouldn't adopt. I'll get the paperwork for you to sign from my bag", said Ms. Baldwin as she walked over to her bag. The three kids all suddenly had shocked expressions on their faces, "Mommy...what is she talking about?", asked KO. "Yeah, what does she mean by 'adopt'? Are you adopting another kid?", asked TKO.

Carol smiled as she signed her name on the designated papers, then she passed them over to Ms. Baldwin who stamped them and then placed them back into her bag, "Well then, congratulations Ms. Kincaid. You're now the proud mother of young Abigail, and Abigail, welcome to your new home and your new family", she said. Abby sat there with a blank look on her face, she didn't know how to process what she was just told.

"Well, kiddo? Are you gonna sit there or are you gonna give your new Mom a hug?", asked Carol as she held her arms out. Abby felt her heart skip a beat when she heard, she suddenly bolted up and threw herself into Carol's arms, crying into shoulder. "m...m...Mama!", she sobbed loudly. Carol held her close as she gently rubbed her back, "Shh...its okay, sweetie. Don't cry now, I'm here for you", she said soothingly.

After realizing what was happening, KO and TKO stood up and ran over to them, throwing their arms around Abby's legs; she stopped crying for a moment and looked down to see both boys lovingly hugging her and nuzzling their cheeks into her calves. They then looked up at her with big smiles, their eyes shining in happiness; that was when Abby realized something else...she suddenly bent down to pick them and held them closer to her body.

"m...m...My little brothers...!", she sobbed as she hugged them. The boys nuzzled their faces into her soft hair, "Big...sis!", they whispered softly.

~Three Months Later~

It was just another partly sunny day in Lakewood, there was a slight chill in the air since it was the middle of Autumn but it wasn't cold enough for people to have to wear heavy coats yet. It was a pretty slow morning at Gar's Bodega: Enid sat at the counter reading a magazine, Rad was playing a game on his cellphone and KO and TKO were lazily mopping the floor.

"Hey boys, I've been meaning to ask where your sis is. Normally Abby comes to work at the same time as you do but she's not here, why is that?", asked Enid. In the past three months, it became common knowledge amongst everyone they knew that Abby was adopted by Carol and became a member of the Kincaid family, so much so that it eventually stopped being awkward for Rad and Enid to refer to Abby as 'KO and TKO's sister'.

And that morning, Enid had noticed she hadn't come in to work and was curious as to why. "She called Mr. Gar to tell him she's gonna come in a little, and he said it'd be okay. Mommy took her to the cemetery to visit her brother", KO said quietly. Rad and Enid looked at each other with solemn expressions as they remembered Desmond's tragic death as well the fact that they were at the small funeral held for him while Abby was recovering.

Meanwhile at Lakewood Cemetery, Carol led Abby up a small hill to Desmond's grave beneath a beautiful cherry blossom tree, that had yet to completely lost its leaves; during her last visit, Abby had tied a bright blue ribbon around the tree's trunk so it'd still have some color even after it lost all its leaves for the winter.

The grave had a small statue of Desmond standing on his legs, striking a heroic pose with a confident smile on his face; the base of the statue had a golden plaque that read "Desmond Alexander Zigdras: brilliant inventor, great friend and devoted brother. Gone but not forgotten", along with the date of his birth and the date of his death.

Abby bent down and place the bouquet of flowers she held into a special holder made on the grave, along with a small teddy bear. "Happy Birthday, big brother. I miss you and I love you", she said as she wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. Carol placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting smile, to which Abby returned and gave her a hug.

They then walked over to the large shrine made for all the kids and Shadow Demons who lost their lives, Plague emerged from Abby's body and took the three flowers she took from the bouquet; he stretched downward and placed the flowers before the painted mural of his fallen brethren before leaning up, pressing his forehead into the mural and muttering something in his native language.

"Let's head back now, I don't want to be too late for work", said Abby. Plague smiled as he disappeared back into her body, Carol and Abby walked down the hill back to the car and drove to the Plaza. Abby said goodbye to Carol as she watched her go open the dojo before walking into the bodega where she was happily greeted by her friends and her little brothers. "Abby, you're here! We've been waiting for you to come in for a while", said KO as he hugged her legs.

"Also, Enid was wondering where you were and why you hadn't come in yet. We told her where you were", said TKO. Abby looked over at her older teenaged friend, "Why were you looking for me, Enid? Did you need some help with something?", she asked. Enid looked over at her with a solemn smile, "Well...I was browsing the internet and I found something really interesting I thought you might want to see", she said.

Enid walked over to Abby and held her cellphone out to her, Abby was surprised by what she saw on the screen. It was Fiery Fennec's page on Kickipunchia, and from the looks of it, the page was still active. "This...this is my Mom's page! How did you find it? And...how is it even still active? My Mom...isn't around anymore to update it", she said.

"Well, as it turned out, your Mom has quite a lot of fans and they were so dedicated to her that after learning about her death, admins on Kickipunchia decided to keep the page up and let the fans update it with memorial tributes to her. I figured you'd want to see it to know a little bit more about your Mom", said Enid.

Abby took the phone and scrolled through the page, she saw a few pictures of her mother displaying her powers, a couple of tribute art from her fans and several videos about her; that was when she spotted a particular video titled "For my Boys", and the thumbnail looked like her mother sitting in front of a camera. "What's this?", she asked. Everyone else looked down at the phone to see the video, "Why don't you click on it and check it out?", asked Rad.

Abby clicked on the video, it started out with what looked like Cassandra steadying a camera before sitting in front of it.

"_Hey boys, its mommy. If you're watching this video, then I've passed on and I wanted to leave you something to not only remember me by but also to inspire you. I know I'm not going to be around forever but I wanted you to know how much I love you and how I'll always be proud of you both. Desmond, I know it may seem unfair that you don't have any powers but I want you to know that even without powers, you can still be a great hero and help others._

"_Arthur, you were blessed with my powers and I wanted you to know that with it comes heavy responsibility. You must never flaunt your abilities or take them for granted, they make you special and one day I hope you'll grow up to be a great hero and use your powers to help those in need._

_"My camera is running low on battery so I'm gonna have to cut this short. I want you boys to know that even if I won't be around forever, I'll always be in your hearts. You boys are my pride and joy, the light of my life and you two were the best thing that could've happened to me. I love you boys and I always will, never give up on your dreams and always follow your hearts_", she said.

Just then, the sound of a door opening could be heard from the side, and a seven year old Desmond walked into the frame holding a five month old baby Arthur in his arms. "_Mommy, me and Arty are hungry_", said Desmond. Cassandra smiled as she bent down and took her infant son from her older son's arms, "_Okay baby, I'll make you both some lunch_", she said. That was when Desmond looked at the camera, "_What's with the camera, Mommy? Are you making a movie? Can I be in it?_", he asked excitedly.

Cassandra laughed, "_No sweetie, it's just something I was doing for work. Come on, let's go get you boys some lunch_", she said. Just before she left, she looked at the camera and blew a kiss at the screen before reaching up to turn the camera off, ending the video. Abby looked at the phone with a smile and tears in her eyes, "Abby? You feeling okay?", asked Enid. Abby reached over to give her a hug, "Thanks for showing me this, Enid. It feels good to know a little more about my Mom and it's also nice to see that other people admire her so much that they're helping keep her spirit alive", she said.

Enid smiled and hugged her back, "No problem, Abby. I thought it would be a good idea to show you and I'm glad it made you feel happy", she said. Just then, the alarms started blaring and red lights started flashing; the group of friends looked outside to see a couple of Boxmore boxes fall from the sky. "Who's up for trashing some lame-o robots?", asked TKO as he cracked his knuckles.

The others all looked at him with smirks as they jumped into action, ready to take down these Boxmore bots. Abby smiled as she and Plague transformed and they threw themselves into the action, she had never felt as happy as she was in that moment; her past may have been dark and tragic, with what seemed like neverending heartache at every time, but even with that said, she was still able to bounce back. Abby was able to make friends who stood by her through every challenge and who cared deeply for her.

And even if she had lost her family, she was able to find a new one in the friends she's made and she was finally able to put her tragic past behind her and looked to the future. She felt renewed, given a clean slate to start her life over.

She may have started out as Arthur/Abigail Zigdras, but now she was Abigail Kincaid. And she wouldn't have had it any other way.

~The End~

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 11, but the story is still not over yet. Come back soon for the last chapter, that takes place in the future where we see where our favorite characters are now. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	12. Chapter 12

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 12: Where We Are Now and What Happened in Between

~6-11 Years Later~

It was a bright and sunny morning in the town of Lakewood, everyone was bustling about going on with their ordinary, mundane lives. Over at Lakewood Plaza, however, a small battle was going but for everyone involved, this was an ordinary and mundane thing.

"Get ready for an extra special beatdown!", shouted a voice.

The voice belonged to a small light blue robot with dark blue spikes on his head and an arm canon in his left arm which was firing small yellow bombs with little faces on them. Two young heroes, a short alien girl with light blue skin and light pink hair and a tall boy with dark green hair with antennae and light brown skin, tried to fend the little robot off but they seemed to be struggling.

"Rawwwr! Fire Fist!", shouted a small male voice.

"Power Fist!", shouted a small female voice.

The two teenagers looked to see two young children firing power punches, one of which was flaming, at the small robot. One child was a young girl with pale green skin, dark brown hair and light brown skin, wearing a pink long sleeved shirt under a blue vest, blue shorts and pink shoes. The other was a young anthropomorphic fox boy with yellowish orange and white fur, green eyes and red hair, wearing a green shirt under a blue vest, blue shorts and green sneakers.

The small robot took the fists head on and scuffed up, but still intact. "Ha! You squirts think that'll take me out? Guess again!", he shouted as he fired a bomb at them. The two teenagers grabbed the two children and pulled them out of the way of the bomb, "Dang it! How do we stop this pile of scrap?", asked the tall boy. The small fox boy thought for a second before he got an idea, "I know what do to!", he said as he leapt out of the alien girl's arms.

The fox boy put two of his fingers into his mouth and blew on them, letting out a whistling sound; suddenly, they all saw the nearby bushes rustling as something was moving around inside them. Then, a creature with black skin, long spidery legs and eight red eyes ran out of the bushes towards the fox boy; it then changed into a ball of energy and merged into his body.

The creature made the fox boy's right hand turn black as he aimed his fist at the small robot, "Take this, Robbie! Demonic Fire Fist!", he shouted as he fired a purplish black fiery fist at the robot, blasting him all the way back to Boxmore. The spidery Shadow Demon then emerged from the boy and waved goodbye before heading back into the woods, "Thanks for the help, Scuttles!", the boy called out. The little girl gave out a cheer as she ran over to the fox boy and grabbed him by his hands, jumping up and down excitedly. "That was so cool, Kenny! You must've totally leveled up by now!", she said.

The fox boy, Kenny, excitedly took a POW card from his pocket and looked at it but then his expression changed to that of disappointment, "Aw man! I'm still at Level 1! I thought I would've gone up a level by now! It's not fair that you're two levels above me, Wendy!", he pouted. The little girl, Wendy, gave him a reassuring smile, "Aw it's okay, cuz. I'm sure you'll level up soon", she said.

"Yeah, Ken. Wendy's right, I'm sure soon enough you'll level up, and besides you power levels aren't really everything and they don't matter much for being a hero", said the tall boy. "It doesn't matter much, Xerxes, but it's still nice to see how strong you can get", said the alien girl. Xerxes looked at her, "Yeah, Emma, but I've never put too much stock in power levels", he said.

(Side Note: Yes, I gave those two teenagers shown near the end of the final episode of OK KO names since their names weren't told to us).

"Are you kids arguing about power levels again?", asked an older male voice. The kids turned around to see KO walking out of the bodega; he was now a tall 30 year old man with chin stubble and muscular arms. The kids all smiled at him, happy to see him.

"Hi Daddy!", said Wendy.

"Hi Uncle KO!", said Kenny.

"What's up, Mr. KO", said Xerxes and Emma.

KO smiled at the kids, "Nice work fighting off that robot, kiddos. Now then, Wendy...Mackenzie, we've gotta get going if we want to set up the party before your Uncle TKO gets home, so I'm closing the bodega early. Emma and Xerxes, you're welcome to come along with us if you want", he said. The two teens smiled and shook their heads, "No thanks, Mr. KO. I've actually got family visiting too, so I've gotta get home", said Emma. "And I promised I babysit my next door neighbor's kid after work", said Xerxes.

KO nodded in understanding as he closed the bodega and walked away with Wendy and Kenny.

Much had happened in the 6-11 years since Abby had finally confronted her past and destroyed the monster that was once her father: several months after she was adopted into the Kincaid family, Abby decided that she wanted to apply to P.O.I.N.T Prep Academy so she could grow more as a hero; Carol did ask if that's truly what she wanted and Abby said it was, that she wanted to train and grow and become more like her mother Cassandra was.

While attending P.O.I.N.T Prep, she met another young hero: another anthropomorphic female fox with red and white fur, pink hair and milky bluish white eyes. Her name was Sammy, and as it turned out that her eyes were that color because she was sadly blind, but then why was she attending a hero school? Its because her powers super hearing and psychokinesis, which more than made up for her lack of eyesight because nothing could sneak up on her.

Abby and Sammy talked, hang out in their free time and even helped one another with their studies; soon enough they started dating and then graduated from P.O.I.N.T Prep, donning their respective hero names of 'Blazin' Kit' and 'The Blind Marauder'. After becoming a professional hero, Abby decided she needed to have a job on the side to both provide for herself once she reached adulthood and to occupy her time when she wasn't saving people.

That was when KO and TKO suggested that she open her own pastry shop since she was so good at baking and her homemade Berry Bites were too good to keep to herself; Abby thought it was a good idea too and thanks to a monetary donation from Sammy's parents, she was able to open a little bakery at Lakewood Plaza Turbo.

And speaking of the twin boys, what exactly are they up to? Well, when KO reached adulthood, Mr. Gar had retired and transferred ownership of the bodega to him; out of respect for his stepfather, KO didn't change the name of the bodega after receiving ownership over it, and continued his goal of being a great hero. As for his brother TKO, he decided to become an antihero since it fit his personality more, and he decided to pursue a career in music on the side.

Soon, TKO started a rock band called "The Turbonics" and within a year or so, became famous for their rock music; when KO told the kids that they needed to get ready before TKO came home, he was referring to his brother finally coming back home after he and his band were away on their world tour. Before TKO had left on his tour, he had attended KO and Dendy's wedding where he was his brother's best man, and every so often he'd communicate with his family over video calls.

That's how TKO was able to find out that his brother also had children: a little half human/half kappa girl named Wendy and a baby half human/half kappa boy named Skipper; he also learned about Abby and Sammy getting married as well and, thanks to the scientific miracle that is invitro-fertilzation, they had three children of their own: a pair of twin girls named Tamara and Pamela, and a little boy named Mackenzie.

And since he was coming home from his tour, the family as well as their old friends Rad and Enid, decided to get together to throw him a 'welcome home' party in the park. KO, along with his daughter and nephew, soon arrived at the park where the rest of their family and their friends were already there getting everything ready: Abby was helping an elderly Mr. Gar make the food, Rad and Enid were helping an elderly Carol set the picnic tables, Dendy was fiddling away on her holo-computer while her infant son slept in the baby carriage beside her, and Tamara and Pamela were sitting together talking.

It's also important to know just how different the twin girls are: Tamara was cheery and fun loving girl who loves horses and the color pink, and Pamela was a very stoic and standoffish girl who kept to herself a lot and didn't really talk much except to her family members and her few goth friends; Pamela had become a goth when she turned fourteen and, unlike kids going through a phase, this was her preferred life choice and she stuck to it.

"Hey everybody, how's it going?", asked KO. Everyone turned to the three and smiled, "Oh...hey KO! Hey Wendy, hey Kenny", they all said back. That was when KO noticed that one family member was missing, "Hey where's Sammy?", he asked. "Oh she went to the airport, TKO called ahead and asked for someone to meet him there and she volunteered to go pick him up", said Abby.

"Hey, are we too late for the party?", asked a voice.

That was when everyone turned to see that an older looking Professor Venomous and an adult Fink had showed up to the park, the former of which was holding a baking pan with a casserole inside of it. "Hope we're not late for the party, Boss here decided to bring a chicken casserole and don't worry, he made it not Boxbutt", said Fink. Abby smiled as she walked over to the grownup mouse girl and gave her a hug, "I haven't seen you in so long, you look so tall and cute", she said.

Fink giggled as she hugged her former babysitter and went to go sit down and talk with her, Venomous went to place the casserole on the table and sat down. KO was then approached by his twin teenaged nieces, "Hey Uncle KO, we were told that Venomous guy is your Dad, but...we wanna know how you found out", Pamela said in her monotone voice. "Yeah Uncle KO, tell us how you and Uncle TKO found out about it", said Tamara in her squeaky chipper voice.

KO thought about it for a moment before he decided to tell them, after all there was still some time before TKO would arrive, so he sat down on a nearby bench with his twin nieces sitting on either side of him and his daughter and nephew sitting on his lap. "I've got time and since you kids are curious, I guess I can tell you. It was a pretty crazy day for me and your Uncle TKO, but he took it a little bit harder than I did..."

~Flashback: 6-11 years ago~

It was an average Tuesday morning over at the Kincaid household, Abby had left a while ago because Venomous had asked her to babysit Fink for him and her little brothers were sitting in the kitchen with their Mom; Carol sat at the table drinking coffee and reading a newspaper while KO sat across from her eating oatmeal and TKO sat next to him eating cereal.

"So...who's our Dad?", KO asked randomly.

"Laserblast", Carol said nonchalantly.

That was when KO and TKO both did spit takes as they were taken aback by the mindblowing piece of information that their mother had just dropped on them, "WHAT?!", both boys shouted. "I've told you this already", said Carol. KO shook his head, "No you didnt!", he said. "And I haven't even been here that long so I'm pretty sure I didn't hear about it", said TKO.

"Well I could've sworn I did...", Carol trailed off. "MOMMY!", KO shouted as he flipped on the table and TKO sat there trying hard not to laugh at his brother's behavior. Carol then calmed him down and then led the boys to her closet, where she reached into a box and pulled out a familiar looking helmet. "Aha, here we go. This was your father's helmet", she said as she gave it to KO for him and his brother to look at.

Carol then told them a short story about how she and Laserblast used to work together to fight off villains back when they used to be a part of P.O.I.N.T, and how they eventually got together as a couple; she explained that he needed to drain the power from others in order to fight back and that the laser thing was just something his helmet did. Carol then told them that Laserblast was insecure about his abilities and how he'd overcompensate by rushing head first into danger.

And it was that very action that caused his untimely demise when the secret villain lab underneath a donut shop had shrunk and then got sucked into a blackhole with him trapped inside. "And that's how I lost him...not long after that, I found out you were on your way!", said Carol as she was referring to the fact that a little while after the incident she found out she was pregnant with KO.

She then turned to TKO, "And then 6-11 years later, a wonderful fox girl named Abigail came along and gave me another little boy to love, and a little while after that, she became a part of my family too", she said as she hugged her little edgy boy. TKO never admitted it but he loved how Carol showed him as much affection as she did for KO and it made him feel even more like a real person, even though he literally was real at this point.

"So our Dad was the greatest hero of all time?", KO asked in wonderment. "Go ahead, kiddos. Try it on", said Carol. KO then placed the helmet onto his head, "Rawwr, I can feel my Dad's hero blood coursing through my veins!", he shouted as he then started dancing around. "Hey! Let me try it on!", said TKO. Carol felt a little uncomfortable when seeing her first son dancing around while wearing her deceased lover's helmet and her second son gripping about wearing the helmet as if it was a toy.

"Um...let's show some respect for the deceased, sweeties", she said. Just then, KO's cellphone started ringing in his back pocket; he reached into his pocket and pulled it out to answer it, turns out that it was Mr. Gar calling him. "KO, I need you and TKO to head out on an important hero mission!", he shouted. KO gasped in awe, "Important hero mission!?", he said excitedly.

"Alright! Now we're talking!", said TKO. "Yeah, Rad and Enid got food poisoning and are too busy throwing up to do it", said Mr. Gar. "Oh gross!", KO said in disgust as TKO cringed. "Yeah pretty much. So I'm sending you two boys, your mission: intercept an illegal glorb deal. Your destination: Boxmore!", said Mr. Gar as he hung up. The two boys then leapt out of the house and jumped into KO's little yellow battle car, "Hey boys, don't forget your big sis is over at Boxmore babysitting. If you trash the place, please be mindful of her and try not to hurt her in the process", Carol called out.

"Okay Mom!", they called back before speeding off to Boxmore. Just inside, Professor Venomous and Boxman were discussing a glorb deal they were making with Billiam Milliam, the latter of the two was holding a briefcase filled with glorbs. Just then, the two boys busted into room. "You don't wanna mess with us, we just found out who our Daddy is!", KO shouted triumphantly while still wearing Laserblast's helmet.

Professor Venomous did a spit take at Boxman, "That helmet!", he said in shock as the two boys pounced on him while Boxman ran away screaming. "I've been itching to get some payback on you for trapping us in that box and trying to drive us crazy, Venomous", said TKO as he was referring to a week ago when Venomous had trapped him, KO, Rad and Enid in a box and subjected them to watching goo clones of each other being destroyed in an attempt to break them emotionally. The only reason Abby wasn't involved was because she was sick that week and had to stay home.

"That's right, Professor Venomous. This helmet belonged to our Dad, the famous hero Laserblast! I take it you've heard of him", said KO. "Heard of him?", Venomous said before he devolved into a fit of maniacal laughter which made Boxman, who was standing nearby, slowly back away. Venomous then grabbed both boys by the collars of their shirts and held them up, "Boys, take a good look! I...am...him!", he said darkly.

KO and TKO both felt as if their world had suddenly stopped as they were then thrown to the ground, "You're doing this now?! I thought we were gonna drag it out, torture them for at least another chapter-"

"Shut it and go finish preparations on the glorb deal!", Venomous said cutting off Boxman by grabbing him by the lips. Boxman saluted him and ran off, Venomous then looked over to his sons to see TKO down on his knees and KO holding onto the railing of the platform they were all standing on. "No...you can't be our Dad! You're a villain...and our blood is pure hero!", KO said as he shook his head in disbelief.

Venomous laughed as he walked over to the helmet, which sat on the floor. "You really believe that to be true? Sorry boys...I am your father!", he said as he put the helmet on.

"No...no...NOOOOO!", KO shouted. "No! This isn't real! You trapped us in a box and tortured us, you made us think our friends died and then you us think one another died! Dads...don't do that!", TKO shouted as tears fell from his eyes and he grabbed at his hair.

KO and even Venomous seemed off put by his behavior, he was taking this reveal much harder than his brother did. "TKO? Are you okay?", asked KO. TKO started breathing heavily as he held a hand to his mouth, "I-I can't...KO, I think I'm gonna be sick!", said TKO as he suddenly rushed to the edge of the railing and bent over the side. He then started throwing up over the side, KO stood beside him and gently rubbed his back as he continued to vomit.

Suddenly, Carol busted in through the roof. "No one's ruining my sons' mission-", she was cut off when she saw TKO still over the side, he had stopped vomiting and was now just breathing heavily. Carol rushed over to her son's side and held him in her arms, wiping his mouth with a napkin she had in her pocket, "TKO? Sweetie? What is it? What's wrong, Walnut?", she asked in concern. 'Walnut' was a nickname Carol had given to TKO much like how she called KO 'Peanut', only she called TKO this because in terms of his personality, he was a 'tough nut to crack' which also describes walnuts.

She held him close as he clung to her like a baby koala and sobbed softly into her jumpsuit, "KO...what happened?", she asked. Just then, Abby and Fink walked into the room as they had heard the screaming and the crashing sounds. "Hey is everybody okay in here? We heard a lot of noises and got worried", said Abby. That was when Venomous, who was still in the room, lifted the helmet off his head and looked at her and Fink with a quizzical look as he had noticed the strange white splotches all over their clothes.

"Girls...why are you both covered in flour?", he asked. "Me and Abby were in the kitchen baking treats, Boss! She's showing me how to make those Berry Bites of hers", Fink said happily. "And I figured the two of us should take a break from playing videos game for a while", said Abby. That was when she spotted KO and Carol, the latter of whom was still holding a crying TKO. "Hey, what's wrong with edgy boy, Mom?", she asked.

A few minutes later, they all gathered together in the kitchen to discuss what was going on; Carol was both surprised and angered when she learned that Venomous was Laserblast and started demanding he explained himself. Venomous explained that he had grown tired of his 'mediocrity' at P.O.I.N.T, that he couldn't stand the unimpressive powers he had and wanted more; he remembered that Carol would tell that he shouldn't have been so hard on himself, but he felt she couldn't understand him because her powers, in his opinion, were superior to his.

So he decided to create a secret lab underneath a donut shop so he could experiment in ways of giving himself more power and he would've probably found a way to if Dr. Greyman hadn't found it and discovered the multicolored orbs Venomous was experimenting with, one of which had actually taken away Dr. Greyman's powers.

Foxtail had instructed that the rest be found and destroyed so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands, so Venomous, Carol and Mr. Gar had went to the donut shop but he left two of them outside so he could run in and dispose of the evidence so they wouldn't find out what he was doing. In doing so, Venomous had knocked over one of the vials containing the red orbs, causing an explosion and him losing his powers; he then hid inside of a pipe as the lab was then lifted into the air, shrunk down to subatomic size and then sucked into a blackhole.

Venomous then said that he was going to crawl back out, but when he heard Carol saying he couldn't have survived the incident as she had thought he was dead, he felt betrayed, as if everything she had said about his powers was nothing but a lie. And thus, he felt that now that he was powerless, he had nothing to offer as a teammate, a partner, and a father.

So he went into hiding and created a new lab to try and get his powers back, but none of his experiments worked, but he did learn that he could sell his research to other villains, realizing that he didn't need powers to have power.

Once he finished explaining everything, Venomous looked around the table and saw that everyone's expressions ranged from surprise to disbelief to anger. Carol gently gave TKO over to Abby so she could hold him while she slammed her hands down onto the table in anger, "You idiot! I said you couldn't have survived that explosion because you're not a God! You're not indestructible and in that moment, I thought you were dead!

"Also, you're either really selfish or really stupid if you thought I was lying to you about your powers. Yes, your powers weren't jaw droppingly amazing but they were still something you should've been proud of and, in all honesty, you deserved to lose them for being selfish and acting so entitled like some spoiled rich kid who begs their parents for a new toy after they've already been given tons of toys. Because of you, Eugene was kicked out of P.O.I.N.T.! Because of you, KO grew up without a father in his life! Because of you..."

Carol trailed off because her anger had devolved into sadness and she started crying; Venomous looked of to the side, deeply ashamed of himself and the rather stupid and selfish decisions he had made in the past. He looked at KO and TKO, who both looked away from him with either expressions of anger or sadness, he then looked at Abby who was mostly just quiet as she hadn't known how to feel about all she had heard.

She supposed she should've been angry with Venomous but after the incident with her own father, what Venomous did was trivial and minuscule by comparison, so all she could do was comfort her little brother TKO as she continued to hold him. Fink was surprised by this information, she wondered why her boss never told her any of this before but she figured that it was too much for him to talk about.

Just then, Professor Venomous stood up and walked away, back to the large open room with the platforms; everyone saw this and followed after him, and that's when they saw him standing on an elevated platform. "I have to go now, I have a delivery I need to make and...I can you don't want to be around me for much longer", he said. A hole opened up in the floor and a small canon popped out, with Boxman sitting inside of it.

"The canon is aimed for Billiam's, PV. You uh...you ready to go?", asked Boxman. Venomous looked down longingly at his sons, "Yes. I think we're done here...unless. KO and TKO...I know I screwed up but I ask you...will you give me another chance to your father? How would you like to join Daddy at work today?", he asked in a rather polite and sincere way.

Carol held an expression of anger, "You slimeball! You think we would want anything to do with you after-"

"Mom, let them make the decision!"

Carol was taken aback by Abby abruptly cut her off, "What?! Why?!", she asked. "After listening to everything he said he did, I agree that Venomous is a bit of a scumbag but it's not too late for him to make up for his mistakes. I know what you're thinking: would I have said the same about my Dad? No! He lost his chance when he used me as a lab rat, paralyzed my brother and murdered my mother. Venomous...he's mostly just been an annoyance for KO and TKO, much like Boxman, and the 'torture' thing was a bit excessive but he still has a chance. But you need to let the boys decide for themselves", said Abby.

Carol then looked over at her sons, who both looked up at Venomous. "He may be evil, but if he really is our father, then maybe we should go with him. We could probably learn more about ourselves, especially you TKO", said KO. TKO looked at him, "Okay...I'll go, but I'm doing this you, KO. And for me, I could learn more about my powers, but I won't say I'm too happy about it cause I'm not! So...can we go Mom, please?", he said. Carol let out a defeated sigh, she may have hated her former boyfriend for all he did, but she knew if her sons really wanted to get to know him, she couldn't stand in their way.

"Alright Peanut...Walnut, I'll support you both. However, didn't already you promise to carry out a mission for Mr. Gar today?", she said. That was when the two realized she was right, "Um...Professor, is it okay if we reschedule?", asked KO. "Hmmm...how about weekends?", asked Venomous. KO and TKO both agreed that would be best and Carol, despite how she felt, reluctantly acquiesced.

"Fine, but right now...its Tuesday!", said Carol as she punched into her palm.

"And Tuesdays...we kick villain butt!", said KO and TKO.

Carol then grabbed the platform Venomous and Boxman stood on and threw it up into the air, then she and her boys leapt into the air and delivered three power punches at it; the force launched Venomous and Boxman into the air, "Told you we should've drawn out the reveal", Boxman grumbled as he and Venomous smacked into a smoke stack and fell backwards onto another part of the factory.

The briefcase full of glorbs flew through the air and landed in Abby's arms, "Well...I guess I'll give these to Mr. Gar then. And it's also getting late so I should probably go home now. I'll see you next time your boss asks me to you, Fink", she said as she bent down and hugged the little mouse. Fink hugged her back, "I'll see you too, Abby. Bye", she said as she escorted her babysitter to the front door and watched as she rode her bike towards the Plaza.

~End of Flashback~

"And while your Uncle TKO and I were still apprehensive about the whole thing, we both decided to continue to be heroes like our Mom. After which, Mom took us to Weiner Kabobs to have ice cream and then we went home where Abby told us she gave the glorbs to Mr. Gar", said KO as he finished telling the story to his daughter, nieces and nephew.

They all looked at him in awe, "Wow Daddy, that's really crazy! Finding out your daddy was a villain", said Wendy. "Almost sounds like something out of a movie really", said Pamela. KO smiled and let out a small laugh, "Yeah I guess, but I was able to accept it. It took TKO a while because he wasn't so forgiving right away", he said. "So what happened after that, Uncle KO?", asked Tamara.

KO sighed deeply, "Well...let me tell you kids about the first weekend TKO and I spent with Professor Venomous. We were both wary about it but what happened that weekend was a life changing experience for us", he said.

~Second Flashback: 6-11 years ago~

It was Saturday morning in Lakewood as Carol drove her tank car towards Boxmore, it was the first weekend her boys would be spending with their father, Professor Venomous, and she was not looking forward to dropping them off; she was apprehensive about it but she reassured herself that her boys would be okay and if anything, Abby was babysitting Fink that morning so she was there just in case.

As she parked outside, she looked at her boys in the rearview mirror. "You okay back there, Peanut? Walnut?" Carol asked them. KO and TKO looked at her, "We're fine, Mom. Still trying to wrap our heads around dad being a supervillain and all...", said KO as TKO reminded quiet.

"If you kids wanna go back, we still can-"

Carol's words were cut off by the rapping of Boxman's scaly chicken-foot hand against her window. Boxman awkwardly thumbed up outside, waiting for KO and TKO.

"If Lase-erm-Venomous I mean, tries to do anything to hurt you, call me immediately, 'kay kiddos? Or better yet, tell Abby. She's already there so let her know if anything happens, okay?", said Carol.

KO and TKO nodded as they exited the car and walked around it to grab their bags from the trunk.

"Love you, sweeties", said Carol.

"Love you too, Mommy", said KO.

"Love you too, Mom", said TKO.

They caught Boxman trying to say some words to their mother, none of which she responded to.

The trio watched the tank leave the area.

"Hey there, KO. TKO!" Boxman greeted to the best of his politeness. "Hi, Boxman!" K.O. responded with the same vigor, walking alongside Boxman who was heading into the factory while TKO simply ignored him. Boxman then noticed the load of their bags, "You're both staying here overnight?", he asked. "I...want to stay the whole weekend", KO replied. "And I'm only doing so for KO's sake. Trust me, I'm not too happy about being here any more you are, but I did say I'd give it a shot so...", said TKO.

The trio walked down a long hallway through the factory until they came upon the door to Venomous' lab. The door slid open as Boxman left KO and TKO there, a dark gas escaped the room, and KO was too slow to cover his nose, but thankfully it wasn't poisonous gas. Venomous stepped through the door and looked down at his sons, KO looked back up at him with a nervous smile while TKO merely sneered at him.

"We have so much catching up to do!", the Professor announced gleefully, "What do you wanna do first? Blackmail Congresswoman? Infect the Lakewood water supply with flesh eating nanites? Or maybe...attack the Plaza?"

KO looked off to the side with an uneasy expression, "Those are all...evil!", he muttered. Venomous immediately realized what he said and changed his tune, "Hehehe...of course! I just thought you'd like to see what your old man likes to get up to. You little..."

He trailed off as he tried to reach out and ruffle KO's hair but not only did he flinch away, TKO put his arm in front of him defensively and growled like an angry bear. Venomous immediately pulled his hand back, "...Scamp!", he said quickly.

Suddenly, Fink burst through the ceiling. "You can ruffle my hair, Boss!", she shouted as she fell through the hole. Abby then climbed through the hole after her, "Fink! How many times have I told you not to break holes through the floor? You could hurt yourself!", she scolded.

KO sighed as he stood off to the side, "Ugh! I thought this could be but the three of us don't like any of the same things! All you like to do is destroy", he said to Venomous. "That's not true, there must be something you like to destroy. I mean, you must like to right, TKO?", Venomous asked the edgy boy.

TKO shook his head, "I stopped doing that a long time ago. I'm here now because Abby and Plague gave me my own body and made me real, so out of respect for the both of them, I've decided to be an antihero and limit my 'destructive behavior' to fighting Boxmore robots", he said which made the aforementioned fox girl smile when she heard that.

Venomous sighed, "Well what about you KO? Isn't there something you'd like to destroy? Maybe a villain you've fought?", he said. KO shook his head, "No I don't! I don't destroy...I can easily defeat my enemies! You know, by knocking them out!", he shouted.

"All of them?", asked Venomous.

"Hm, well there was one...Shadowy Figure", said KO. TKO, who stood next to him, growled angrily when he heard the villain's name. "Shadowy Figure...", Venomous said intrigued. "He's a creepy glorb dealer and wears a hood to disguise his face and he was always trying to get me to unleash TKO back when we were still joined together", said KO.

Venomous thought about this, "Perhaps," Venomous suggested, "We should hunt down this Shadowy Figure and des-erm-defeat him once and for all!"

"...yeah!" K.O. seemed to like the idea. Perhaps getting rid of him would give him and his brother more time to think about their villain dad. They could very well make their father a hero again. "That's a bad idea!" Fink reacted, surprising the two as they had forgotten she and Abby were in the room now. "Why exactly is that a bad idea, Fink?", asked the professor. "Just trust me, boss," She turned away for a second, "I uh...tried looking for the guy myself, it ain't worth it going after a dead end."

"Nonsense," Venomous retorted back at her in determination. "Hey Plague, do you know this Shadowy Figure guy? With a name like that he sounds like he could be a Shadow Demon", said Abby. Her demon companion emerged from her back, "_**I dont think so. Even though I'm not the leader of my people anymore, I still know the names of all my brethren. And considering there's over ten hundred thousand of us, I think I would've met this Shadowy Figure fellow years ago**_", he said.

Venomous then went to his desktop computer, "Well let's see if we can find anything on this Shadowy Figure", he said as he typed on the keyboard. Suddenly, the desktop seem to crash and then exploded. "Ugh! Fink, have you been downloading crime scene photos again?!", shouted Venomous. "I haven't done that in weeks!", Fink shouted.

Sighing, Venomous turned to his sons. "KO, you said this guy was a glorb dealer, right? Well he must have some clients who are buying glorbs from him", he said. "Well, you know some villains don't you? Maybe we should ask one of them", KO suggested.

"I think I know a guy", said Venomous.

"Let's go to them then!" K.O. exclaimed with determined energy, immediately leaving the room with his brother in tow. Professor Venomous couldn't help but smile at the boy's chipper nature. A dash of melancholy graced his countenance when the thought of his old flame sparked briefly within his mind. "Come on, Fink. I know you want to come too, and bring Abby along too. I think it'd best to have another chaperone on our little mission", he said.

Fink nodded in agreement as her babysitter lifted her onto her shoulders and followed after the professor and the two boys. Their first stop was the home of the villain, Billiam Milliam, who was in the middle of a spa treatment; one of his servants soon approached him.

"You come here to interrupt my spa day? What's so important that you would dare to do such a thing?!"

Billiam was handed a tablet by one of his lesser servants. Gasping, "Professor Venomous?! Quickly, make sure everything looks like it's in tip-top shape!"

All the servants rushed about to arrange everything. With a snap, Billiam was redressed into his so-called leisure robe, laid on a soft beach chair, polished, and then fanned with palm leaves by his servants.

Billiam caught sight of the dreaded Professor, his henchman, an adolescent fox girl and two young boys.

"Professor Venomous, darling!" Billiam greeted as he locked eyes with the five people, trying his hardest not to look nervous. "Hey, Billiam," Venomous responded casually. "I'm so pleased to have you and your company with me! What brings you here, my dear Professor? Business...or pleasure?"

Fink rolled her eyes at the villain.

"Actually, we're here to ask about a glorb dealer," Venomous replied. "Why?," Billiam rose from his reclining position into a sitting one, an offended flick of the wrist resting his hand upon his bare golden yellow bosom, "Have you grown tired of my services and demands, Professor?"

Before he could reply, KO cut him off. "No, my brother and I are the ones looking for a glorb dealer—his name is Shadowy Figure", he said. "How curious!" Billiam exclaimed, surprised at the circumstances before him. "You must tell me, boy," he rose and walked towards KO, "How did two young heroes like you come to the conclusion of approaching such gruesome villains such as ourselves? Last time I checked, glorbs are being sold to heroes by heroes too", he said.

Billiam Milliam was a golden statue. KO had his Pow Card and had heard all about him, yet chills came upon the young boy as he looked directly into the uncannily humanlike eyes of the villain, and even TKO was put off by him.

"Um—"

"_**Just tell us what we need to know and keep your eyes and hands to yourself, banana man!**_", Plague shouted through Abby as he had sensed the boys' discomfort and his protective instincts took over her for a split second. Billiam was caught off guard by this and looked to Venomous.

"She's their older sister, and she's very protective of them. Plus, that's a story for better ears, Billiam," Venomous spat, clearly uninterested in sharing the details of his heroic yet failure-filled past. Billiam scoffed. "Fine. Keep your delicious secrets to yourself, you monster", he then turned to face KO, "Hmm...because I have respect for this job, I'll try to help you. Although, it is a shame, most especially that I have never heard of this...Shadowy Figure before."

"Maybe you've seen him?", KO pleaded, "He's got this hood that covers his face and is like, dressed all black".

"...doesn't ring a bell, my boy", Billiam then turned to Venomous, "Are you here for anything else?"

"Nope, that'll be all. See you around, Billiam", said Venomous as he and the kids left. Once outside, they tried to think of another way to find Shadowy Figure. "Wait KO, the glorb sanctuary beneath the Plaza! Shadowy Figure always seems to show up there to try and steal glorbs, we could wait for him there and ambush him", suggested TKO.

A few minutes later, they had passed through the underground tunnels to Plaza's hidden glorb tree, and after waiting there for almost half an hour, Shadowy hadn't showed up yet. KO tried his hardest to make sure neither Fink nor his father would take any glorbs, but the former had managed to slip a couple into her pocket without the boy's notice.

They decided to wait a couple more minutes to see if Shadowy Figure would show up; the kids soon became hungry but luckily Abby had stopped by a deli on the way and bought them all sandwiches and drinks. After a while, it was clear that Shadowy Figure wasn't coming.

As KO looked at the tree and all he went through with it, he remembered what Billiam Milliam had said: "Last time I checked, glorbs are being sold to heroes by heroes too."

That was when he realized there was somewhere else they could go to find out where Shadowy Figure was.

A few minutes later...

"P.O.I.N.T.?!", Venomous exclaimed as he powered on his car. Abby sat up front in the passenger seat while the three kids climbed into the backseat.

"Yeah," KO tried to remember, "I dunno what caused it, but all I know is that at one time, Foxtail tried to get P.O.I.N.T. to harness the glorb tree under the plaza."

Venomous felt a pang of concern but tried his hardest not to show it, "...was Greyman there with her?"

"No. TKO and I met him sometime after the whole Dark Plaza Takeover; he said he quit when he found out was Foxtail was planning on doing", said KO.

"Of course he would," Venomous then chuckled to himself. "I suppose ol' Foxy finally learned to take a page out of my book".

KO wasn't sure what Venomous meant, "...she felt really bad about what she did, saying stuff about wanting heroes to be strong enough or something".

"That so?", Venomous tried to keep calm as

KO nodded, "Heard it was under new management now".

"Oh yeah, Elodie runs P.O.I.N.T. now! She's best friends with my best friend Enid!"

"Good to know."

The drive was silent so suddenly, the folks in the car deep in thought. "I've actually wanted to visit P.O.I.N.T for a while now. I read on my mother's Kickipunchia page that P.O.I.N.T had offered her a chance to be on their team but she refused because she was worried her enemies would use her teammates to get to her", Abby said wistfully as she recounted her memory.

This made the atmosphere within the car more quiet and awkward as Abby had recounted a memory of her deceased mother. That was when Fink decided to break the awkward silence.

"Boss?" Fink asked in the back. "What is it, Fink?", asked Venomous. "I don't think they're gonna let us in," she responded.

"Oh my Cob, Fink's right!" KO realized. "Elodie wouldn't let us in just like that!" Venomous, eyes still on the road and the pointing-hand signs, tapped his fingers against the wheel. "Maybe they can wait outside while we go in to find Foxtail", suggested TKO.

When they got there, there weren't any guards out front, and as they walked inside, they found it to be rather easy. "I guess Elodie got rid of the rest of the Troopers," KO remarked. "Troopers, huh?", Venomous snarked. KO didn't respond.

The lobby was empty, and KO began to text on his phone. "Can't we go any faster?!" Fink complained, the small group was just standing in the halls. "Enid went here for a time, so she should know where Foxtail would usually be," KO said when he then received a reply. "Either in the Gym or in a class!"

"I have no intentions of interrupting a hero class while being this tired out," Venomous stated, "Just be quick, alright? You know I have history here." KO nodded as he, TKO and Abby walked towards the gym.

Suddenly, the sight of a faded orange tail slipped into the Gym, which was nearby. "There!", KO said as he pointed it out and dragged the two with him. Foxtail was rounding out some dodgeballs, perhaps for a game later.

"Hey, Miss Foxtail!"

Almost making a mess of the dodgeballs, Foxtail turned to see the two boys approaching her, with KO running enthusiastically towards her. "Sugarcube!", said Foxtail as she let KO run towards her, and they embraced; she then leaned her hand down to ruffle TKO's hair as she knew he wasn't much of a hugger. That was when she looked up and saw Abby, "Hello there, Abigail. How are you doing, honey?", she asked. Abby smiled, "I'm alright, Miss Foxtail", she said.

Venomous and Fink stood leaning against the sides of the doorframe, doing their best to stay out of sight; Venomous couldn't believe how old Foxtail has gotten, she's certainly more burly now than the last time he saw her. Foxtail caught sight of the villains by the doorframe and was about to remark about them when KO interrupted, "Miss Foxtail, we need to ask you something".

"I'm sorry, sugarcube," She knelt down to his level. "Something caught my attention."

"Okay," He said, "You remember when you started acting like a misunderstood anti-hero with all the glorbs at the plaza?"

She did not want to remember that but nodded nonetheless. "Yeah, we were wondering...did you happen to get glorbs from a Shadowy Figure?", asked TKO. Foxtail gasped dramatically as she stood up in shock, she tried to look away, obviously blushing. "I don't associate with him anymore, not since after I resigned as leader of P.O.I.N.T."

"Well, do you know where he is?", asked KO.

She seemed to not answer, fully faced away from him.

"Miss Foxtail?", asked Abby.

"Looks like nothing," Fink remarked, "We should get outta here, boss." Venomous nodded at her and then the two began to walk out, he then clicked his tongue and winked at Foxtail as he left. "Hey wait for us, you guys!", KO shouted as he, TKO and Abby ran after them. Foxtail suddenly put a hand on KO's shoulder, making the boy jump. "Here," she said as she handed him a small paper, "The coordinates for Shadowy's lair."

"Thanks, Miss Foxtail," KO replied gratefully, putting the paper in his bodega vest. "By the way, could you care to tell me why you brought Professor Venomous and that rat kid with you and your siblings? I mean, surely you have a reason."

"Oh, that's mine and TKO's evil dad and his henchman," KO replied casually.

"I see."

"Alright. Bye, Miss Foxtail!"

"See ya, Sugarcube!"

KO then ran out of the gym, following after his siblings, his father and his frenemy.

Later on, the small group found themselves traveling through another underground tunnel until they came upon a secret lab, but once again they had hit a dead end. "Ugh! Where is he!? Why is it that when we go looking for him he's not around but when we don't want to see him he shows his ugly mug!?", shouted TKO. Just then, Abby started breathing heavily at the sight of the underground laboratory, "Guys...can we please leave? I can't...I can't be in here any longer!", she stammered.

The group immediately recognized that being in this lab was digging up terrible memories of her past for her and so, they started looking around for an exit; KO then found a hatch in the ceiling, they climbed up a ladder and allowed Abby to exit first before following after.

On the surface, Abby was able to calm down before she looked around and saw that the hatch opened up into what looked like the ruins of someone's house. "Um...who's house was this and what happened to it?", she asked.

When the others came out, Venomous looked around the ruins of the house. "This...this was my home before Boxman destroyed it! Shadowy Figure had a lab under my house? How is this possible?", he asked as he looked at Fink who turned her head away.

Considering she seemed so adamant that her boss not go looking for Shadowy Figure, he approached her. "How did this Shadowy Figure hide a lab under my home without my knowledge?", he asked her. Fink then suddenly burst out, "BECAUSE YOU'RE SHADOWY FIGURE!", she screamed, "Ya happy!?"

KO and TKO were shocked as Venomous took a moment to contemplate what he just heard. "I see now...after the night I lost my powers, I tried everything I could to get them back. I can't believe it actually worked", he said to himself. He then looked towards KO and TKO, the former having a shocked expression on his face and the latter looked as if he was trying not to explode from anger.

"So you were Shadowy Figure the whole time?!", shouted KO as his fists erupted in blue flames. "And here I thought you couldn't get any worse!", shouted TKO as his fists erupted in purple flames and sparks. Venomous raised his hands defensively, "I-I didn't know! Wait...why didn't I know?", he said.

"Because Shadowy didn't want you to! Haven't you ever wondered why you're always so sleepy and cranky? Or why as soon as you tried to search for Shadowy Figure on the computer, it basically exploded?! Shadowy Figure isn't just a part of you, he's like...like...your alter ego", said Fink.

Venomous looked at her in disbelief, "You knew this whole time?", he asked. "I hate Shadowy, he's soooo lame! Shadowy told me to stay away from him and I was happy to", said Fink. "But why didn't you tell me?", asked Venomous. "Shadowy told me if I did, he'd take over your body and make you disappear forever!", Fink said with tears in her eyes.

Venomous then stood up fast and looked at his hands in shock and disbelief, "I...I can't believe I could keep this a secret from myself...I-I didn't know! I feel so...helpless!", he shouted as sparks suddenly erupted from his body. The kids backed away as his skin turned to a cloudy purple color and his clothes suddenly morphed into a hooded cloak and scarf, completing his transformation into Shadowy Figure.

He then looked at the kids with a dark glare, "How dare you!? I never wanted that Venomous to know, but now you brats have ruined it for me!", he shouted as he tried to strike the kids. But before he could even touch them, Plague transformed Abby into her demon form and they grabbed Shadowy by the arm, flinging him into a pile of rubble. While this was going on, the kids hid behind a slab of wall.

"Shadowy's never gonna let him come back now!", shouted Fink. "You wanna save Venomous, right? I wanna save our Dad too, he's even more like us than I thought. I think I know a way to bring him back but we're gonna need your help", said KO. Wiping her eyes, Fink reached into her pocket and pulled out the glorb she stole, putting it into her collar and changing into her turbo form. "Fine, but this doesn't make us friends or anything!", she said.

KO nodded, "Alright! TKO, how about you-! TKO? Where'd you go?", he said as he looked around for his brother. He and Fink then spotted him by another piece of rubble, he was sitting with his knees brought up to his chest, his head buried in his lap and his arms wrapped around his legs. "TKO...what's wrong? Did you get hurt?", asked KO. But when he reached out to touch his shoulder, TKO just shrugged him off and continued to sit there.

"Oh forget him, we have to stop Shadowy!", said Fink. They heard a grunt noise and that Shadowy had tossed Abby/Plague onto the ground, incapacitating them. "Where'd you brats get off to?", he said looking for them. "Right here, Shadowy!", shouted KO as he and Fink jumped out from behind a piece of rubble. "Teaming up, are we? How cute", said Shadowy as he put his hood up and lunged at the kids.

He tried to claw at them but KO and Fink jumped out of the way and tried to punch him; Shadowy dodged their attacks and grabbed them, spinning around and tossing them into the dirt. "Grr...you keep getting in my way!", shouted Fink. "If don't work together, he's gonna beat us! I have an idea", said KO.

Shadowy floated around the piles of rubble, looking for the kids; that was when he ran into Abby/Plague, who had recovered from being knocked senseless. "Here for another thrashing?", asked Shadowy Figure. "_**Oh I'm not here to fight you...I'm just the distraction**_", they said as they pointed behind him.

That was when KO jumped out and fired a power fist at Shadowy; Fink then jumped out and grabbed it, changing it to a bright magenta color and then flung it at Shadowy. He tried to deflect it but he was too slow and it hit him at full force, knocking him to the ground and forcing him back into Venomous.

Venomous came to his senses and looked up to see KO, Fink and Abby looking down on him. "Ugh...what happened?", he asked. "The kids defeated Shadowy and forced him back into your head", said Abby. Suddenly, they turned around to see TKO slowly walking towards them with his head down and his hair covering his face. Abby placed a hand on his shoulder, "TKO...what's wrong little buddy?", she asked.

When he didn't answer, Venomous slowly approached him. "Are you okay, son? I'm sorry...", he asked. That was when TKO slapped his hand away and looked up at him, his eyeliner running tremendously due to his tears. "You think you can just say 'sorry' and everything will be okay?! After everything you did to us!? After what Shadowy Figure did!? And now...you act as if you care! Just spare me and go away, okay! KO and I don't need you, we were better off without you!", he shouted.

That was when Venomous abruptly grabbed him and hugged him tightly, "I know saying 'I'm sorry' won't help anything, but I am sorry! I'm sorry I was so selfish and ungrateful for the power I had, I'm sorry I abandoned you and your mother, I'm sorry for the grief that both Shadowy Figure and I put you and your brother through. I know I can't take it all back but I want to start over, I may be evil but I'm not completely heartless. I want to start over and be your father, please...please forgive me", he said as he felt himself choke up.

TKO couldn't believe what he had heard, Venomous was sincerely apologetic and regretful for everything he did to hurt his old teammates, his former lover and his sons, and he actually wanted to make up for what he did. TKO grabbed onto him and hugged him tightly as he began crying, "I...I forgive you...Daddy", he sobbed.

After a few minutes, TKO finally calmed down and wiped his eyes. "I'm happy you two were able to reconcile, but there's still the question of what to do about Shadowy Figure. We can't leave him unchecked and I could remove him from Venomous but since he's an adult, he'll be too aware of what we're doing and keep me from pulling him out", said Plague.

"Wait, what if instead of taking Shadowy out, we put someone else in? What if we found a Shadow Demon to live inside of Venomous and keep Shadowy Figure from coming out and causing problems anymore?", asked Abby. "_**Abigail, that's genius! But there's a problem with that: while one of my people would be strong enough to keep Shadowy Figure from doing anything stupid, finding one out of ten hundred thousand within that large forest is going to be hard**_", said Plague.

He was right, finding one specific demon who may or may not want to help out of ten hundred thousand within the Lakewood forest would be difficult...but not impossible. "Guys, I think I know a way for us to find one", said TKO.

An hour later, the group was trekking through the forest with TKO and Rex in the lead; TKO figured if they were going to find a demon to bond with Venomous, they needed another demon to find them. And what better demon to use than a Shadow Demon hound with a sense of smell that was 1000x stronger than that of a normal dog's sense of smell.

Rex sniffed around on a few trees and bushes, leapt over a fallen log and a small river, while stopping by the river to take a quick drink, and continued to smell along the ground until he came upon a dead and hollowed out tree with a hole beneath it; Rex sniffed and clawed at the hole, barking at it. "**_What is it!? Can't I sleep for five minutes without interruptions!?_**", a voice screamed from within the hole.

The small group saw three red eyes appear within the hole before their owner came up out with them: it was a Shadow Demon that looked a mix between a snake and a scorpion, its upper was more serpentine like with four arms and its three red eyes and its lower half was arachnid like with six pointed legs and a tail with a stinger.

Plague looked at this demon with a spark of recognition, "Weevil! Its you!", he said. The demon looked up at him, "_**Well well, if it isn't our former leader. To what do I owe this unexpected visit**_?", he asked. "_**Well, you might be aware that many of us have decided to take on hosts. Professor Venomous here is in of a demon, he has an evil alter ego that I cannot remove but we can't leave him unchecked, so I was hoping you would take him on as a host to keep him from coming out to cause trouble**_", Plague explained.

Weevil smirked, "**_Interesting...and what do I get in return for my services? Because I deliberately chose to make my new home beneath this hollow tree so I could be in peace and quiet away from people, and now you want me to leave it to help some man I don't know. What do I get in return?_**", he said.

Plague gave a defeated sigh as he remembered that Weevil was a pretty self centered demon that mostly kept to himself and when something was asked of him, he'd always ask what he'll get in return. That was when Fink came up to him, "I've got a deal to make with you: you live inside my Boss and make sure Shadowy Figure never comes out, and we won't bug you. You can stay inside at all times and we won't ask you for anything else. What do you say?", she asked.

Weevil thought about this for a moment, he figured he could just stay inside Venomous at all times where he'd have all the peace and quiet he wants and all he had to do was keep his alter ego in check. "_**Alright, I'll do it. Let's first see if the two of us are compatible**_", said Weevil. He then transformed into a ball of dark energy and flew into Venomous' chest.

Venomous tensed up for a second, which prompted Weevil to stick his head out of his chest to glare at him. "_**You need to relax yourself! If you're too tense, then we can't bond together. And that's even factoring in the possibility that we even are compatible, let the others know if you experience any chest pain because that's a sign of incompatibility**_", he said before sinking back into Venomous'.

A few minutes past and Venomous wasn't showing any signs of chest pain or anything out of the ordinary. "You feeling okay, Boss?", asked Fink. "Yes...in fact, I feel really good", he said. That was when Weevil emerged from Venomous' chest once more, "**_Well it appears we are compatible. Oh, and I met your friend Shadowy Figure, quite the unpleasant fellow but he went down like a pansy the second he got too big for his britches. He then started screaming obscenities at me when I locked him inside a cage but then I pushed him into your subconscious, so his yelling won't bother you. Now, please don't bother me_**", he said as he went back inside.

"_**Now that you have someone keeping Shadowy Figure in check, you can focus on living your life, Venomous. And that includes being a father to your sons**_", said Plague. Venomous sighed as he looked down at the two boys, bending down to their level and patting them on the head. "Don't worry, I plan to make up for the 6-11 years I missed out on and I'll do my best to be a good father", he said. KO and TKO smiled up at Venomous as they reached out to hug their father.

~End of Flashback~

"And after that day, TKO and I spent practically every weekend with Professor Venomous. It wasn't easy at first since he didn't exactly know how to be a parent and all those parenting books don't really have all the answers, but he did do his best. Venomous isn't the greatest father ever, not when Mr. Gar was always there for us, but he was still good", said KO.

His daughter, nieces and nephew were all left in awe by the end of the story. "Wow...that story was pretty hardcore, but really cool", said Pamela. "I thought the ending was super cute", said Tamara. "And Mr. Weevil's been inside of Grandpa Venomous for all these years, Daddy?", asked Wendy.

KO smiled at his daughter, "Yup. Shadowy Figure is still a part of him and because he's too strong to be removed from him by Plague, Weevil is still there to keep him from coming back out. Weevil didn't ask for much, just that as long as he lives inside of Venomous, no one bothers him for anything else", he said.

That was when Dendy approached the group, "Hey you guys, look who's finally here", she said as she gestured to the entrance to the park. They all looked up to see TKO walking into the park with his electric guitar strapped to his back and Sammy walking beside him with the cane she used to feel her way around everything.

Mr. Gar and Carol walked up TKO and gave him a hug, then he walked up to Rad and Enid to high five them; he then hugged Abby and Dendy before approaching his brother, nieces and nephew. "Hey bro, it's good to see again. How was the tour?", said KO as he fist bumped TKO. "It was great, had to deal with annoying fangirls here and there, but other than that it was pretty great", said TKO.

He then bent down to hug Wendy and Kenny, "Hey kiddos, it's great to see you two again", he said. "We missed you too, Uncle TKO", said Kenny. That was when Tamara and Pamela walked up to them, "Hey how's my favorite set of twins?", asked TKO. Tamara smiled widely, "We're doing great, Uncle TKO. Pamela here watched all your live shows on tv, she really loves your music. Me...not so much, sorry", she said.

TKO passively as he long since knew that his gothic niece was a fan of rock music, his especially, but her sister preferred upbeat pop music, but he never took offense to that because he knew everyone had their own taste in music and he was okay with that.

TKO then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flat square object wrapped up in purple wrapping paper, "Here Pam, I got you a little something. Think of it as an early birthday present, just promise not to let anyone else know you have it. It's not supposed to go on sale until a month from now and my manager won't be happy if he found out I gave you one early", he said.

Pamela opened the small gift, revealing it to be a CD case that read "The Turbonics Shadow Tour platinum album", with a picture of what looked like a Shadow Demon on the front. She looked at the CD with her indifferent expression before walking over and giving TKO a hug, "I love it. Thank you so much", she said flatly. TKO smiled back, he knew despite her monotone voice and deadpanned personality, she was still appreciative of the gift.

"Hey everybody, the burgers and hot dogs are done. Who's hungry?", asked Mr. Gar as he stood by the grill he was making lunch on. Everyone gathered around the picnic table to eat; the grown ups were talking grown up things with Dendy bottle feeding her infant son, the kids were talking about the latest video games and cartoons and what not. All of them laughing and having a good time, everything up until now might've been crazy and scary and even tragic, but they were all strong enough to help each other out and pull through.

They had gone through a lot of changes, some of which they weren't prepared to face, but they faced it together; they were one big happy family and they couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.

~The End...for reals~

Author's Note: There, I am finally done with this story! It took me months to finish but now I'm done, I'm going to take a long break before I go back to finish my other ongoing story; this was the longest I've ever had to write for any fanfic and I'm tired. So until next time, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


End file.
